There could be a Royal flavour to Strictly Come Dancing 20th-anniversary series this year if BBC bosses get their way.
For producers are said to be keen to sign up members of the Royal family for the award-winning ballroom dancing contest. In a joint celebration of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee and the show's China - or 20-year - anniversary.
According to The Sun, the BBC's top targets are England world cup-winning rugby star Mike Tindall, 43, who is married to Princess Anne’s daughter Zara, and the Queen’s granddaughter, Lady Louise Windsor, 18, daughter of Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex.
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A source said: “The team are doing all they can. In the year of the Platinum Jubilee, it has been a real priority. It would be an incredible coup to secure a royal.”
While the rugby star is said to have been on producers’ radars for some time, Lady Louise has gained further public attention during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Other names in the running are said to be model and socialite Lady Amelia Windsor, 26, who is the granddaughter of the Duke of Kent, and Strictly presenter Claudia Winkleman’s half-sister Sophie, who shot to fame on Peep Show and who is married to the Queen’s second cousin, Lord Fredrick Windsor, in 2009.
The news came as speculation mounted that Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall could host a round of the show at Buckingham Palace. It has been reported that the royals are in secret talks with show bosses and that the Queen has given her blessing for Strictly to rock up at the palace. In a statement to The Mirror, representatives at Clarence House declined to comment on the rumours but did admit they "can confirm" that Charles and Camilla "love Strictly".
A source has told The Sun that the royals are "very much driving" the chance of Strictly coming to Buckingham Palace and that "the BBC couldn’t quite believe what was being offered." The source added that if this was to get the green light, then it would be "TV dreamland" and would make "a wonderful spectacle".
As Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly return to host the next series of the show, the judging panel has been confirmed in recent weeks. Strictly's Anton Du Beke will return as a judge for the upcoming series and beyond, after it was announced that original judge Bruno Tonioli has left the BBC show for good, having previously been replaced temporarily. Anton will join usual judges Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Shirley Ballas as a new batch of celebrities take to the dance floor this autumn.
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