Charles & Camilla host Classic FM for 25th anniversary from Dumfries House

To celebrate the 25th birthday of the radio station Classic FM, Prince Charles and Camilla hosted the a live broadcast at Dumfries House today.

The 25th celebration was celebrated alongside the 10th anniversary of Dumfries House being saved for the nation in 2007 by The Prince of Wales.

The radio hosts decided that there was nowhere more suitable to host this double celebration that at the grand surroundings of the stately home, set in 2,000 acres of manicured lawns and forests in Ayrshire, Scotland.

The radio station broadcast between 8am and 6pm, and beginning at 8.15pm, a special live broadcast by Aled Jones, of Walking in the Air fame, took place in the presence of the royal couple, who are referred to as The Duke of Rothesay and The Duchess of Rothesay when in Scotland. The Royals were also joined by Irish President, Michael D. Higgins for the celebrations.

Embed from Getty Images

Clarence House tweeted that Klass and Jones were in rehearsal earlier this afternoon, showing Myleene playing the harp in the room, and Aled singing for the special occasion.

Dumfries House is famed for its large collection of Chippendale furniture, part of the reason Charles thought it needed saving and not selling off, piece by piece.

At 3pm, gardener Alan Titchmarsh joined Prince Charles for an exclusive interview about Dumfries House, the surrounding grounds, the conservation work of the royals, and the anniversary of the house. Listen to their chat here.

“There are so many young people who want to learn music,” said The Prince of Wales. “They’re the ones that we owe it to, to be able to keep all these things going. They really mind about it. We must have the opportunities for them to perform and to express something that’s deep in their souls.”

The Prince claimed that classic music is ‘very much’ important to his life, which he listens to as her works.. He also mentioned that he has experienced an interesting evolution of tastes: “I’ve become more enthusiastic about Wagner, as I get older. That terrible communicative disease called Wagner-itis…,” he said, talking to Alan Titchmarsh.

He also said the radio station has played an ‘enormous part’ in promoting the genre in its 25 years.

Prince Charles and Camilla hosted Classic FM at Dumfries House for their 25th anniversary (Clarence House)

The live broadcast featured Myleene Klass, student musicians from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (of which the Prince is Patron), traditional Scottish melodies performed by Josie Duncan, Ji Liu playing Chopin and Liszt, and the world premiere of Twilight Falls on Temple View by Welsh composer Paul Mealor, which was specially written about Dumfries House for its anniversary celebrations.

Share this

1 comment

Al Sharif Al Sheikh Dr Raad Al Anbaky Thu 07 September, 2017 - 12:31 am

congratulations

Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.