One’s Top Ten: The tunes the Queen loves to hum
SHE is known to have a lovely singing voice, although no one outside the royal inner circle has heard it.
And her taste in music is, like most things in her life, much guessed at but not truly known.
However, by speaking to some of those closest to the Queen, Radio 2 has put together what it believes is the most accurate playlist yet of her musical favourites.
While some of the choices – military music and hymns – are no surprise, perhaps the most intriguing inclusion is a song by Take That star Gary Barlow. And it seems the 90year-old monarch is a fan of classic musicals as well as having a soft spot for Thirties and Forties film star George Formby.
Lady Elizabeth Anson, the Queen’s cousin, said: ‘We did a lot of singing at Kensington Palace. Nobody thought it was odd after dinner if we put on a record and all sang Doing the Lambeth Walk, so music has always been part of her life.
‘The Queen loves the theatre and musicals like Showboat, Oklahoma! and Annie Get Your Gun. These were the tunes that remained in one’s head and were very danceable to. The Queen is a fantastic dancer. She’s got great rhythm.’
The Queen learnt to dance the waltz, the slow waltz, the foxtrot and the quickstep, not to mention the samba, at an early age, Lady Elizabeth reveals.
‘If you watch her at Trooping the Colour, you will see that she’s tapping her toes. So military music means a lot to her, she’s extremely knowledgeable about military music and loves massed bands, especially pipe bands.’
But according to Eve Pollard, who presents Our Queen: 90 Musical Years, on Radio 2 on Sunday, the Queen is not stuck in the past.
Her musical tastes, former newspaper editor Miss Pollard tells this week’s Radio Times, take us from nursery rhymes in French, and emotional 1940s ballads that kept the nation’s hopes up during the war – such as Vera Lynn’s The White Cliffs Of Dover – to the present, with a song co-written by Gary Barlow. Sing was performed for her by Barlow and the Military Wives choir at her Diamond Jubilee concert in 2012, and she is known to have an iPod on to which her staff and grandchildren download songs.
Unsurprisingly, given her deep Christian faith, two hymns – Praise, My Soul, The King Of Heaven and The Lord Is My Shepherd – feature. Miss Pollard says: ‘There are also some amazing stories of how the Queen [then Princess Elizabeth] and her sister, Princess Margaret, sang unaccompanied to the Westminster Abbey choirmaster so that the Queen’s favourite psalm could be played the way she liked it at her wedding.’
The playlist includes a medley by US bandleader Lester Lanin, who played at the Queen’s 60th birthday party, and Leaning On A Lamppost by George Formby.
Miss Pollard admits: ‘I had no inkling that the one singing star the Queen is word perfect on is none other than the ukulele king George Formby.
‘The story of her fondness for his music says so much about her. It seems she received a letter from the George Formby Society asking her to be its president. Her correspondence secretary noted, “I don’t honestly think, if you don’t mind me saying so, this is appropriate.”
‘To which the Queen replied, “Well, I do see that, but you see I love George Formby.” “Really?” responded the secretary. “Oh yes. I know all his songs and I can sing them.” ’
Our Queen: 90 Musical Years will be broadcast on Radio 2 on Sunday at 7pm.