The late Queen and Prince Philip loved to sing along to (Is This The Way To) Amarillo, Tony Christie has revealed.
The 81-year-old said they told him it was their favourite song at royal gatherings.
The singer said he was stunned when the Queen revealed she knew all the words to the song, which was released in the UK in 1971.
When Christie re-recorded the song with comedian Peter Kay for Comic Relief in 2005, it immediately shot to number one.
Christie said: ‘I had lunch at the palace where I met the Queen and Prince Philip. It was an honour. I am an absolute royalist.’
Tony Christie, pictured singing at the Goldene Sonne Awards in Germany in 2021. The 81-year-old described himself as an ‘absolute royalist’
The Queen (right) told the British singer that she and Prince Philip (left) knew all the words to his hit (Is This The Way To) Amarillo
Christie (left) re-recorded the song with comedian Peter Kay (right) for Comic Relief in 2005. It shot straight to number 1
When asked if they knew the lyrics to the song, he said, “They shook my hand and they all knew [the lyrics]. She did. They all know [the words].
“They said it’s the song they play at parties. They said, ‘You sing the song we play at parties!’
Christie said the royal couple told him this at a lunch for The Grand Order of the Water Rats, a British fraternity and entertainment industry charity, a few years before the queen’s death in 2022. Both he and Philip were members.
After performing the hit at the Boisdale Xerjoff Music Awards last Wednesday, Christie, who is in the early stages of dementia, said: ‘I won’t be doing it again, it’s a classic.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to be given great songs my whole life, so I’m blessed.”