West Norwood mum is “living fairy tale” after singing at Royal Wedding

A health manager has helped her choir hit the top 10 in the charts after they performed at Harry and Megan’s Royal Wedding.

The boss at Guy’s and St Thomas’ says she is “living in a fairy tale” after
performing at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, with The Kingdom Choir.

Mum-of-three Collette Watson-Blythe, from West Norwood in south-east London, was one of
31 singers to perform Ben E King’s Stand By Me during the wedding of Prince
Harry and Meghan Markle.

They were thanked by Megan and film star Tom Hardy afterwards – and their version reached number seven in the iTunes chart days later.

Collette, an assistant service manager in the Simulation and Interactive
Learning Centre at St Thomas’ Hospital, said: “It was an amazing experience
and I’m still processing it. I can’t even begin to comprehend what’s happened
because it’s so far removed from my day job.

“The choir’s website crashed on the day and we’ve now got thousands of
followers. Since the wedding we’ve performed on Good Morning Britain and
were interviewed by Good Morning America – it’s absolutely crazy.”

The mother-of-three, who joined the gospel choir 20 years ago, added: “People
assume it was Meghan who invited us to perform but it was actually Prince
Charles’ office that got in touch.

“We had a meeting at Kensington Palace a couple of weeks before the
wedding to discuss the arrangement of the songs and by the time we got there
we knew we’d be meeting Harry and Meghan themselves. We performed for
them and they were really lovely.”

Although it was not televised, The Kingdom Choir also performed a medley of
Amen and This Little Light of Mine while Harry and Meghan had their first kiss.

Collette, who has worked for Guy’s and St Thomas’ for four years, said: “As
Meghan walked past us she mouthed ‘thank you’ and Prince Charles gave us
a nod of the head – it was incredible.

“The happy couple chose the songs and the medley got the congregation to
their feet and singing along. Afterwards, Tom Hardy came up to us with his
wife to tell us how much they loved it.”

The Kingdom Choir’s rendition of Stand By Me reached seventh position on
the iTunes chart just days after the wedding.

Collette said: “From a police escort to St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle to
hearing the cheering roar of the crowd, the whole experience has been so
surreal and something I’ll never forget.”

Collette is no stranger to high profile performances, having sung with The
Kingdom Choir during episode seven of the BBC’s Call The Midwife earlier this
year.