Over the weekend, Kate Middleton made a surprise cameo, demonstrating her musical talent in 2023’s Eurovision Song Contest. The Princess of Wales participated in the event’s opening sequence film by contributing a short instrumental piano performance for the beloved European contest.
Middleton joined last year’s champions, Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra, who performed their winning entry song, “Stefania” at the Maidan Nezalezhnosti metro station in Kyiv, Ukraine. Middleton made her contribution from a grand piano within the Crimson Drawing Room of Windsor Castle, while fellow British talents like Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, Ms Banks and Joss Stone participated as well. The U.K. hosted this year’s inaugural competition on behalf of Ukraine, which is fighting a war with Russia after the country invaded Ukraine last year.
The royal’s performance was composed and arranged by Joe Price and Kojo Samuel and was prerecorded earlier this month. Kensington Palace released footage and images by photographer Alex Bramall and showed the princess playing the piano while wearing a one-shoulder azure blue Jenny Packham gown, representing her support for Ukraine.
Middleton’s look drew similarities to her sister-in-law Meghan Markle’s royal blue one-shoulder Christopher John Rogers dress she wore to accept the President’s Award from the NAACP in 2022. (Markle also styled her hair to one side too.)
“A #Eurovision surprise 🎹,” the Prince and Princess of Wales wrote on Instagram. “A pleasure to join @kalush.official in a special performance of last year’s winning @eurovision entry. Enjoy the show, Liverpool.” The royals shared another image featuring Middleton sitting at the piano. “A little sneak peek behind the scenes at the filming for last night’s @Eurovision surprise 🇺🇦.”
It’s been reported that the princess has played the piano since her childhood. According to People, a royal source told the outlet Middleton took “great comfort” in playing music throughout the pandemic, which led her to organize the “Together at Christmas” carol concert at Westminster Abbey in 2021 to celebrate communities and key workers affected by COVID-19.
During the concert, Middleton played piano alongside singer Tom Walker for her first public performance, in a rendition of “For Those Who Can’t Be Here.”
“Music was very important to [her] during the lockdowns,” the royal source said. “She also recognizes the powerful way in which music brings people together — especially during difficult times. For these reasons, she was keen to be part of Tom’s performance in this way.”
