This year marks the first time Britain has had a solid chance of winning Eurovision in more than a decade—and the Princess of Wales made sure tonight’s grand final got off to a headline-grabbing start by participating in the event’s opening film.
The short clip sees last year’s champions, Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra, performing their winning entry of “Stefania” in Kyiv’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti station, interspersed with cutaways to U.K.-based talents, from Andrew Lloyd Webber to Ms Banks. Princess Kate performed a short instrumental piece for her cameo, filmed at a piano in the Crimson Drawing Room of Windsor Castle.
Photo: Alex Bramall
The video was, of course, prerecorded, with the Princess wearing a one-shouldered Jenny Packham gown to play Joe Price and Kojo Samuel’s composition. The performance—and her choice of a Ukrainian-blue dress—were a welcome show of support for the eastern European country more than a year into Russia’s invasion. Controversially, the European Broadcasting Union banned President Zelensky from making an address during the contest this year out of concerns that it would violate the competition’s alleged political neutrality.
This isn’t the first time that Kate has used fashion to semaphore her support for Ukraine. The Princess paired a blue Alexander McQueen jumper with a badge bearing the Ukrainian flag for a visit to the country’s Cultural Centre in London last March, before dropping into Reading’s Ukrainian Community Centre in November wearing a navy-and-mustard LK Bennett dress. Her decision to meet First Lady Olena Zelenska at Buckingham Palace in the run up to the Queen’s funeral was likewise a powerful statement. Kate may not speak out often when it comes to politics—but when she does make her feelings known, the world listens.
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