Katy Perry has expressed her excitement about staying in Windsor Castle ahead of her performance at King Charles III’s coronation.
During an interview with Extra on Monday, the 38-year-old singer spoke about her upcoming performance at the coronation concert next month, before revealing that, when the royal family first invited her to the event, they also invited her to stay at the royal residence in Windsor.
“They said I was allowed to stay in Windsor Castle, which I’m really excited for,” she said. “I might be posting a lot [on social media]. Cause I’m going to be in a castle for real, this is wild!”
The “Roar” singer also reflected on the reaction she’d had upon seeing her invite to the coronation for the first time. “It was very regal. It was like a cursive I have never seen,” she said. “I loved it. It was beautiful.”
After Perry noted that it’s an “honour” to be singing at the concert, she also spoke about her work with Charles, as she’s an ambassador for his charity, The British Asian Trust. Founded by the King in 2007, the British Asian Trust is a “diaspora-led international development organisation, delivering high-quality programmes in South Asia”, according to the organisation’s official website.
“[The British Asian Trust] primarily focuses on ending child trafficking, which is a huge issue of our time that people don’t talk enough about,” she said. “And it just aligned with all my values. He asked me to sing and it all aligned.”
The singer issued a similar statement when news of her performance was announced earlier this month. “I am excited to be performing at the coronation concert, and helping to shine a further light on the British Asian Trust’s Children’s Protection Fund, whose work includes on-ground initiatives to fundraising, with the aim to find solutions to child trafficking,” she said at the time.
Charles and Perry first met in 2019 at an advisory board meeting with the British Asian Trust in Mumbai, according to the royal’s former deputy private secretary, Scott Furssedonn-Wood. In a Twitter post shared earlier this month, the ex-royal household employee recalled their meeting, writing: “I was with the King in Mumbai in 2019 when he first met her. I had told him how much my kids loved her.”
He added: “Those of us in the team never asked for selfies. So HRH kindly asked for me: ‘He and his family are such fans!’” Furssedonn-Wood’s post also included a selfie of him with Perry and a separate photo of the singer with Charles.
At the concert on 7 May, Perry’s co-judge on American Idol, Lionel Richie, will also be performing. Some of the other musical acts include pop band Take That, Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli, Welsh bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel, singer-songwriter Freya Ridings and classical-soul composer Alexis Ffrench.
The stage will be set up at Windsor Castle, and the concert will be broadcasted by BBC.
