London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Platinum Party at the Palace: The royals were the real stars of the Jubilee concert

Platinum Party at the Palace: The royals were the real stars of the Jubilee concert

At most pop concerts, the audience don't turn their backs on the stage. But this wasn't a normal pop concert, and this wasn't a normal audience.

For most of the 22,000 fans attending The Platinum Party at the Palace, the Royal Family were the real stars.

Ten minutes before the show started, Prince Charles walked the short distance from Buckingham Palace to the temporary grandstand, waving cheerfully at the crowd as they shouted "Charles! Charles! Sir! Sir!" and zoomed their camera phones in to get a better glimpse of the heir to the throne.

And while acts like Queen, Elbow and Duran Duran took to the stage, the audience craned their necks to see what was happening in the royal box.

Some even brought binoculars.

The concert began with a celebration of the Queen's love of humour - as she shared a pot of tea with Paddington Bear in a pre-filmed, heart-warming sketch. Immediately afterwards, Queen (the band) kicked off the music in style, embellishing We Will Rock You with military pomp, courtesy of the Royal Marine Drummers.

But many other acts seemed to leave the royal-watchers in the audience mystified.

"I'm not really into gigs," admitted one man standing next to me. "Who's that?" shouted another when host Lee Mack introduced chart-topping dance act Sigala.

And when Jax Jones took to the stage, were the crowd nodding in time to his slick house-pop, or in acknowledgement of his opening song, You Don't Know Me?

More familiar artists fared better. Sir Rod Stewart received a hero's welcome as he ran through Baby Jane; George Ezra's Shotgun triggered an enthusiastic sing-along; and when Mack announced "please go crazy for Duran Duran", the crowd duly obliged.

Sir Rod Stewart made full use of the four interconnected stages at the front of Buckingham Palace


Other highlights included Elbow, who performed One Day Like This with a choir of refugees representing more than 30 countries; and US star Alicia Keys, who retooled her songs of female empowerment as a tribute to the monarch's endurance.

As she sang at the piano, the words "strength" and "superwoman" were projected onto the facade of Buckingham Palace.

"Is this girl on fire?" asked the singer, introducing a song of the same name, before declaring: "Yes, Queen!" - cheekily appropriating a term that originated in black and LGBTQ club cultures in the US.

Alicia Keys played a medley of hits including Superwoman, Girl On Fire and Empire State Of Mind


Sam Ryder also impressed with a full-throated rendition of his Eurovision smash Space Man, which achieved interstellar orbit via a call-and-response chorus and a squealing guitar solo.

Sir Elton John's rendition of Your Song, taped in the red drawing room of Windsor Castle, was genuinely moving. And so, to my surprise, was the moment that drones floating above Buckingham Palace created an image of the Queen's beloved corgis.

There were also pre-taped messages from stellar names like Sir Paul McCartney, who said: "I love you like many other people, so congratulations and thank you for 70 beautiful years"; and Michelle Obama, who thanked the Queen for her "extraordinary kindness towards our children".

Sam Ryder was dressed for the occasion in a union jack outfit


For viewers at home, in particular, it was a slick, encyclopaedic journey through seven decades of rock and pop - with a few gaps (counter-cultural movements like punk and Britpop didn't get a showing).

And, as with all events on this scale, there were inevitably some moments that didn't quite work.

Diana Ross struggled to find her key as she sang Chain Reaction (viewers at home, apparently spared this moment, complained her microphone was too quiet); and George Ezra seemingly self-censored the lyric "You better throw a party on the day that I die", drawing more attention than if he'd left it intact.

Diana Ross closed the show with a stunning rendition of Ain't No Mountain High Enough


Rod Stewart introduced a rendition of Sweet Caroline - chosen as a tribute to the Queen by the audience of BBC Radio 2 - by announcing: "This isn't a fun one to sing but the BBC made me sing it. Make it fun for me."

The Royal Family did their best, singing along and waving flags in time to the Neil Diamond classic.

There were also a couple of references to politics. Standing in front of Buckingham Palace's front gates, Mack joked: "Finally we can say the words 'party' and 'gate' and it's a positive," prompting jeers for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was in the royal box.

Later, Stephen Fry referred to the number of prime ministers the Queen has "tolerated" during her seven-decade reign.

The Prince of Wales read a touching tribute to his mother


Fry also jokingly asked: "How many concerts of raucously loud music has she had to endure outside her house?"

The Queen watched similar events 10 and 20 years ago, but was unable to attend this concert in person, having already missed the Epsom Derby earlier in the day and a service of Thanksgiving on Friday.

Prince Charles did speak on stage, explaining that his mother had missed the show with "intense regret". But it is hard to know what she would have made of it all.

We do know her favourite songs predate the rock era. A playlist of her top 10, released to mark her 90th birthday in 2016, includes Dame Vera Lynn's White Cliffs of Dover and Fred Astaire's Cheek to Cheek alongside hymns and songs from musical theatre.

So she probably would have enjoyed Andrea Bocelli's Nessun Dorma and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's medley of theatre hits more than Sigala's Came Here With Love.

Pop singer Mabel gave one of the night's most energetic performances


But, as Prince Charles pointed out towards the end of the two-and-a-half hour extravaganza, that wasn't necessarily the point.

"The scale of this evening's celebration - and the outpouring of warmth and affection over this whole Jubilee weekend - is our way of saying thank you," he said, affectionately addressing the monarch as "mummy".

He then encouraged the crowd to make a noise loud enough for her to hear in Windsor Castle, 20 miles away.

And so the audience turned away from the stage one last time, facing west as they gave the Queen three cheers.

Thousands of people crammed into the Mall to watch the show, alongside 22,000 ticketholders who gathered outside the gates of Buckingham Palace


Set list


Queen

* We Will Rock You
* Don't Stop Me Now
* We Are The Champions

Jax Jones

* You Don't Know Me
* Instruction (ft Stefflon Don + Nandi Bushell)
* Don't Call Me Up (ft Mabel)
* Where Did You Go? (ft John Newman)

Elbow and the Citizens of the World Choir

* One Day Like This

Diversity - 'The History of British Pop'

* Beatles - She Loves You
* Bee Gees - Night Fever
* David Bowie - Let's Dance
* Spice Girls - Spice Up Your Life
* One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful
* Stormzy - Big For Your Boots

Craig David

* Ain't Giving Up For You
* Re-rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta)
* Fill Me In

Mimi Webb

* House On Fire

Musicals medley

* Memory (from Cats)
* You'll Be Back/Wait For It (from Hamilton)
* Phantom of the Opera (from Phantom)
* Circle of Life (from The Lion King)
* Ex-Wives/Six (from Six)
* ny Dream Will Do (from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat)

Sam Ryder

* Space Man

George Ezra

* Green Green Grass
* Shotgun

Rod Stewart

* Baby Jane
* Sweet Caroline

Andrea Bocelli

* Nessun Dorma

Duran Duran

* Notorious (ft Nile Rodgers and Ms Banks)
* Girls On Film

Alicia Keys

* Superwoman
* Girl On Fire
* City of Gods
* Empire State of Mind

Celeste/Hans Zimmer

* What A Wonderful World

Elton John

* Your Song

RAF Trumpeters and Choir

* The National Anthem

Sigala ft Ella Eyre

* Came Here For Love

Mica Paris, Ruby Turner and Nicola Roberts

* Climb Every Mountain

Diana Ross

* Chain Reaction
* Thank You
* Ain't No Mountain High Enough


Watch: Queen, Diana Ross, Duran Duran and more perform at the Platinum Party at the Palace

Watch: The Queen meets Paddington Bear for Party at the Palace


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×