Aled Jones has revealed the hilarious interruption Prince Philip used to ‘ruine’ conversations between the Walking in the Air singer and the late Queen.
The Welsh star said the “gracious” Queen Elizabeth II asked him how long it had taken him to master his performances, before telling him his voice “sounded amazing”.
But the Duke of Edinburgh would come by ‘often’ and disrupt the interaction by questioning him about when his voice would break.
The former choirboy, who rose to fame after singing the 1985 Christmas classic ‘Walking in the Air’, said:
‘For example, I had also met her after I had sung with Leonard Bernstein, she [said] “That must have been tough, how long did that take you?” and “The voice sounds amazing,” she would say.
‘And then Prince Philip would come along and ruin it by saying, “Has your voice broken?” or something like that, which he often did.’
The late Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh
Aled Jones rose to fame after singing the 1985 Christmas classic ‘Walking in the Air’
Jones has spoken of his ‘nightmare’ of forgetting words during a Royal Variety Show for the Royal Family.
The 53-year-old told the Rosebud podcast: ‘The first time I sang for Her Majesty the Queen I forgot my words.
‘Rory Bremner came up to me afterwards. I’d never met him before, but now he’s a good friend. He wasn’t then – I hated him for that comment.
“I was singing Memory and he said, ‘You just showed the world you don’t have Memory.'”
‘That was the only time I had a recurring nightmare.
‘I had the score in front of me during rehearsal and it went brilliantly, Andrew [Lloyd Webber] was delighted.
“The director came to me and said, ‘Don’t use the music, it ruins the take and you look a bit stupid.'”
“I was 12 and a half and I was like, ‘Okay.’ I remember walking along and singing the first verse.
‘And then, between the first and second verses, I looked at the end of the room and saw an exit sign. It started flashing and I suddenly thought to myself, “I have no idea what’s going to happen next.”‘
‘Her Majesty The Queen was there with Prince Philip and members of the Royal Family.
‘Luckily I was able to remember the words and I went back to verses three, four and five, but I was terrified, I was shaking and my voice broke a little.’
He continued: ‘Andrew was very kind. He said my words were better than the original, but they weren’t.
‘So that was the first time I performed for Her Majesty the Queen.’