Katherine Jenkins was 'very emotional' recording new national anthem
Katherine Jenkins found recording the first version of 'God Save the King' "very emotional".
The 42-year-old mezzo-soprano was invited to tape the new rendition of the UK National Anthem for BBC Radio 4's 'World At One' programme on Friday (09.09.22), the day after Queen Elizabeth passed away aged 96, and she was proud to be given the "enormous honour".
Explaining how she was recording a specially-rewritten version of 'Here Is Love Vast as the Ocean' for 'Songs of Praise' at a rural church in West Sussex when she got the call on Friday, she told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: “We sort of stopped what we were doing. I realised this was an enormous honour. So we took a moment’s silence and said a little prayer.
"[It was] very emotional, especially as I have so many wonderful memories of singing it for Her Majesty over the years and realising that that won’t happen again”.
While Katherine rehearsed and recorded the song "in one go", she admitted she had to concentrate more than usual because of the small lyric changes, including from Queen to King in reference to new monarch King Charles, and switching pronouns from 'her' to 'his'.
She said: “I ran it through in my head before I went to sing it so that I would think it, because naturally you would sing ‘her’.
“You know, this is a song I have sung hundreds and hundreds of times, so it did require concentration.”
The Welsh singer performed for the queen many times over the years and remembered the late monarch as "very maternal" and incredibly funny.
She said: “She always felt very maternal. And I think she had a really good sense of understanding how people might be feeling. She read situations really well, and I think that’s sort of a gift in itself. She also had a great sense of humour in a really quick way. I definitely remember those one-liners. You’d come away and think, ‘That was brilliant.’ "
And Katherine has "no doubt" Charles will be a great king.
She said: “I’ve seen him at work. We do some shared charity things, like the British Horse Foundation, and I respect his work in environmental and conservation areas. What I’ve witnessed is that he’s a man who really cares. And he has a big heart. And I think bringing that into this role means that he will be a wonderful king.”
