Eastenders changes tune for Her Majesty

THE QUEEN is to be honoured with her own Eastenders theme tune, as programme-makers remix the show’s closing music to pay tribute to the Platinum Jubilee.

The reworked theme will play over the end credits of a special royal episode of Eastenders tomorrow that features a cameo from the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.

The Queen, who visited the set of the show at Elstree, Hertfordshire in 2001, is only the third leading lady, and first real person, to have the honour, after characters Peggy Mitchell and Pat Butcher.

Remastered by Simon May, who composed the original theme song in 1985, the new music will blend the national anthem with the Eastenders theme.

It will close a special episode of the long-running soap in which the Prince and the Duchess join the Platinum Jubilee street party in Albert Square.

The Prince will be seen sharing a glass of fizz with characters Sharon Watts and Kathy Beale, while Mick and Linda Carter the landlord and landlady of the Queen Vic, raise a toast.

The Duchess will cut a cake, decorated with the emblem of the Big Lunch, of which she is patron, and meet character Patrick Trueman, who carries a bottle of rum from his native Trinidad.

“I tried that in Trinidad,” she tells him, referring to a 2008 royal tour to the Caribbean. “Pretty good.”

Patrick, played by Rudolph Walker, replies: “And you’re still standing, ma’am?”

“I stopped after a bit,” the Duchess reassures him.

“Before you leave ma’am, can I interest you in a little?” he asks, to laughter from the crowd around him.

“You can,” says the Duchess.

The Platinum Jubilee-themed episode airs on BBC One tomorrow at 7.30pm.