King Charles has formed an unlikely bond with pop star Raye, the Mirror can reveal.
The monarch met the 27-year-old singer at an event for Apple at London’s Battersea Power Station last year and has since fallen in love with her music. A source told the Mirror: “They got on like a house on fire and he went away and discovered her music. He’s a fan.”
Charles, 76, has now included the seven-time Brit award winner’s hit Love Me Again in a new playlist of 17 of his favourite songs in order to celebrate Commonwealth Day. During the one-hour recording, which is called The King’s Music Room and is now available to listen to on Apple Music, Charles pays tribute to Raye and speaks for the first time about meeting her.
Sitting at his desk in His Majesty’s office at Buckingham Palace, he tells how he was “particularly pleased” to meet the star, who he describes as “one of our most exciting and acclaimed contemporary singer-songwriters”. He adds: “Anyone who saw Raye perform at the Grammy Awards will know that she is a great ambassador for British music.”
The King also revealed he and Raye discussed her mother’s Ghanaian heritage, which brought back fond memories for him of being given a bow and arrow as a boy at Balmoral by the then Ghanaian Prime Minister, Kwame Nkrumah. He recalled: “I went straight out and fired into a nearby pine tree and then couldn’t get the arrow out again!”
Music-loving Charles added: “In the 1970’s, I first visited Ghana and discovered ‘Highlife’ and the urge to dance to that pulsating rhythm”. Charles has included prolific Ghanaian star Daddy Lumba’s track Mpempem Do Me in his playlist, which includes songs from ten different decades.
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Charles’ other choices include The Loco-Motion by Kylie Minogue, Beyonce hit Crazy in Love and Diana Ross chart-topper Upside Down. He describes The Loco-Motion as “music for dancing”, adding: “It has that infectious energy which makes it, I find, incredibly hard to sit still! There is such an irresistibly joyous feeling to that song.”
On his love for Diana Ross hit Upside Down, which he describes as “one of my particular favourites”, Charles said: “When I was much younger, it was absolutely impossible not to get up and dance when it was played! I wonder if I can still just manage it!?”
Speaking about Ross’ fellow US star Beyonce, who performed Crazy in Love at his Prince’s Trust “Fashion Rocks” concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 2003, Charles said: “I just could not resist including her music.” Describing her as “incomparable” and one of the now King’s Trust’s “most faithful supporters”, he added: “Incidentally, I would like to congratulate her for winning her first “album of the year” Grammy.”
Charles has also included a range of other songs from artists from around the Commonwealth, including Could You Be Loved by Bob Marley & The Wailers, My Boy Lollipop by Millie Small, and Hot Hot Hot by Arrow. Speaking about Jamaican-born Marley, Charles recalled meeting the reggae icon, who he calls “the great man”, at an event in London.
He said: “Bob Marley would have been eighty this year. That marvellous, infectious energy, of course, he had, but also his deep sincerity, and his profound concern for his community. I always recall his words ‘The people have a voice inside of them’. He gave the world that voice in a way that no-one who heard can ever forget.”
Charles added Could You Be Loved reminds him of he and Queen Camilla’s last visit to Jamaica in 2008. He said: “The wonderful Rita Marley helped organise a concert in which she recreated some of Bob’s best-known hits before a large crowd in the then-Prime Minister’s residence in Kingston.
“It was one of those unforgettable moments. And I recall too, the Commonwealth service in 2023 when I heard British saxophonist Yolanda Brown performing ‘Is This Love?’ in Westminster Abbey.”
Charles, who grew up playing the piano, cello and trumpet and was also part of the school choir and orchestra at Gordonstoun school in Elgin, Scotland, as a teenager, described Marley’s fellow Jamaican star Millie Small as “an unexpected gift” with an “extraordinary voice”.
And he paid tribute to the Caribbean, telling listeners: “I am always mindful how much we owe to the Windrush Generation, whose gifts have so greatly enriched our country.”
Charles told how he is also a fan of Haven’t Met You Yet by Michael Bublé, KANTE (feat. Fave) by Afrobeats star Davido and The Very Thought of You by Al Bowlly, which he revealed reminded him of his late grandmother. He said: “For me, there is something equally irresistible about music from the 1920’s and 1930’s that reminds me of my much-loved grandmother, because she used to play these sorts of music a lot, and also never fails to lift my spirits.
“This was an era of songs made memorable by brilliant lyrics, incredible bands and unstoppable rhythm.”
Speaking about Davido’s song KANTE, Charles said it “features lyrics in pidgin, which I love in all its forms, and in which I attempted to make a speech when I last visited Nigeria. I understand that thanks to Afrobeats it is becoming ever more popular around the world.”
Charles’ eclectic list also includes La Vie En Rose by long-time pal Grace Jones, The Click Song by Miriam Makeba, My Country Man by Jools Holland & Ruby Turner, Indian Summer by Anoushka Shankar, Anta Permana by Siti Nurhaliza and E Te Iwi E (Call to the People) by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.
Those involved in the making of Charles’ Apple Music playlist revealed it was recorded shortly after last month’s Grammys following months of talks between the streaming giant and the Palace. They added Charles originally chose more than 17 songs, but his selection had to be cut down in order to fit a one-hour time slot.
Speaking about the project, Charles admitted: “I was rather surprised, but delighted when I was asked whether I might be prepared to share some of the songs which I have enjoyed over many years which have originated from across the Commonwealth family, and other parts of the world.
“This seemed such an interesting and innovative way to celebrate this year’s Commonwealth Day. I particularly wanted to share with you in this collection songs which have brought me joy. They evoke many different styles, and many different cultures.
“But all of them, like the family of Commonwealth nations, in their many different ways share the same love of life, in all its richness and diversity.”
Charles added: “Over many years, I have travelled to a large number of the different countries of the Commonwealth, thus experiencing the astounding richness of their many cultures. I can only hope you have enjoyed these few songs I have had time to share with you.
“Perhaps you have heard some of your own favourite pieces and perhaps you may have discovered something new and interesting from the wonderfully diverse tapestry that makes up the modern Commonwealth, with its rich pattern of cultures that it continues to share with peoples across the entire world.”
*Listen to The King’s Music Room premiere on Apple Music 1 on Monday, March 10, at 10am, 1pm and 6pm for free. Or enjoy anytime on demand with an Apple Music subscription.