There are usually strict rules when it comes to meeting with the royals. Generally, it’s made clear to those of us lucky enough to be granted an audience when the chat is over.
But singer Olly Murs has told how he managed to get Prince William onto his favourite subject when they met at the King’s Coronation. And it ended up causing quite a tailback of angry celebrities hoping to be presented to the new Prince Of Wales.
Olly explained he was introduced to the next-in-line to the throne after the Coronation concert in May last year.
There was a free bar backstage, he said, explaining: “Drink whatever you want. I’m like, ‘Happy days.’’ We get a few gin and tonics in, and then a lady came up and said ‘Prince William and Princess Kate would like a word with you’.”
Feeling a bit awkward, and not knowing exactly what he should talk about, Olly decided to talk to the prince about football. “The thing about me is, whenever I’m with people, the first thing I always ask is ‘What team do you support?’” he explained.
That opened the floodgates, Olly said, and William spoke at length about his love for Aston Villa. “He was telling me all about how much he loves going and how he’s excited about the new owners and the season,” Olly continued.
Olly, himself a massive Manchester United fan, said the chat went on for “a good ten minutes.” It became increasingly clear that there was a growing queue of people all waiting their turn to chat to the new Prince of Wales. He continued: ”I looked around me at one point and there were about 30 or 40 people all wanting to talk to him, but we were having such good chat about football.”
Eventually, though the Essex-born singer decided enough was enough. He explained: “I said, ‘look, William, it’s lovely to talk to you, mate. Have a good night. I’ve got to go’. I sort of had to creep away.”
While this isn’t the recommended way of concluding a conversation with a senior royal, Olly felt that under the circumstances he had no choice.
