Katherine Jenkins snubbed by
AsKED to sing at the Queen’s 90th birthday pageant at Windsor Castle, as well as at a concert to celebrate the landmark at the Royal albert Hall, Katherine Jenkins could be forgiven for letting the honour go to her head.
For I hear that Buckingham Palace has felt the need to deliver a stinging rebuke to the ambitious classical performer after she informed them of plans to feature the Queen on her new album.
Katherine wanted to include a short extract from a speech Her majesty gave in the Fifties, in which she pledged to ‘give my heart and my devotion to these old islands’.
The Queen’s spoken words would have been played at the start of a new song written by Brendan Graham, This mother’s Heart, about the monarch.
However, after a long correspondence between the Welsh mezzo- soprano’s record label, Decca, and the Palace, the request was turned down.
‘It’s rather humiliating,’ admits a source. ‘I think Katherine’s team were getting ideas above their station.’
after Palace officials said royal speeches could not be used for commercial purposes, Jenkins offered to donate her advance payment for her album, Celebration, to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Trust.
One of Katherine’s friends insists: ‘This wasn’t her idea. she didn’t even know about it. someone at her record label thought it would be a nice idea to use the Queen’s speech, but, in the event, it wasn’t possible.’
a Buckingham Palace spokesman declines to comment. However, a royal source tells me: ‘We don’t agree to the re-use of extracts from Her majesty’s speeches for broadcast purposes, except for documentaries of national significance.’
Two years ago, Katherine felt the need to insist she was not a ‘diva’ and dismissed reports of extravagant spending on her hair and make-up as
‘ridiculous’. The 35-year-old, who married American artist and film-maker Andrew Levitas in 2014, said there was no truth in rumours she had been dropped by her then record company, Warner Music, for being too demanding.
She said she returned to her first label, Decca, because they ‘understood’ her music better. If only the Palace understood her equally well.