The Duchess of Cornwall is a Beatles Fan!

The Mersey Beatles meet the Duchess of Cornwall
c. Liverpool Echo

As part of the events celebrating 50 years since Ringo joined the Beatles and musical history was made, the Duchess of Cornwall visited the Beatles Story today.

She was shown around the museum by Jerry Goldman of the Beatles Story, and unveiled a plaque commemorating the 50th anniversary.

As part of her tour, she was treated to a performance by the Mersey Beatles, and she clearly enjoyed herself. Mark Bloor, who plays ‘John’ in the band said, “She sat and watched us perform three songs and then came over to the stage, shook our hands and told us how wonderful it was and that we had taken her back to her youth! She was very friendly. We sang ‘Twist and Shout’, ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand,’ and ‘She Loves You.’ She seemed very attentive and interested while we were playing, tapping her foot and even singing along at one point.”

Mark admitted that he had been tempted to ask the Duchess if she could “rattle her jewellery”, especially as their first song was ‘Twist and Shout’. However, the Beatles Story had asked them to start the song before the Duchess entered the room to give it more of the feel of a ‘live gig’; otherwise, he said, he “may well have”!

As well as performing occasionally for royalty, the Mersey Beatles were the resident band in the Cavern for over ten years, and still perform regularly in Liverpool, their home town. They have just announced their first tour of Ireland in October. See www.themerseybeatles.com for more details.

Thanks to Steve Marinucci, Beatles Examiner, www.examiner.com for allowing us to share this story with our readers.