While many of music’s top stars have participated in the Jubilee concerts in honor of Queen Elizabeth II over the years, her son King Charles III is reportedly having a hard time attracting big names like Elton John, Adele or Harry Styles to perform at his upcoming coronation in May.
Those Grammy-winning artists are just some of the British superstars who’ve turned down invitations to perform at the event; The Spice Girls also reportedly declined, as did Robbie Williams. Rolling Stone reports that reps for the stars declined to comment on why they said no, except for Elton John, who has scheduling issues.
While scheduling may be one reason why artists can’t commit to the event, there’s speculation that Charles just doesn’t have the cachet that his mother did. The head of a leading British music PR company told Rolling Stone, “I don’t know what there is to gain for artists by associating with [Charles]. With the Queen, she was fab and glamorous to some people. Charles doesn’t add anything.”
“I don’t know if performing would add positively to an artist’s narrative unless they were staunchly pro the monarchy,” the publicist said.
Other experts tell Rolling Stone that artists may also be turned off by the fact that the U.K. is spending a lot of money on a coronation when people in that country are having trouble managing the cost of living. Still others may be turned off by the accusations Harry and Meghan have made against the Royals, or the scandal involving Charles’ brother Andrew.
As one British musician told Rolling Stone, “We’ve had so much…negative exposure of the Royal family…People are sick of it and probably won’t be involved for that reason.”
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