To mark the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, I thought it might be appropriate to post about the Royal Command (Variety) Performance. It is a televised variety show held annually in the United Kingdom to raise money for the Royal Variety Charity (of which King Charles III is life-patron). It is attended by senior members of the Royal Family. The evening’s performance is presented as a live variety show, usually from a theatre in London and consists of family entertainment that includes comedy, music, dance. magic and other speciality acts.
The first performance, on 1 July 1912, was called the Royal Command Performance, and this name has persisted informally for the event. This was held in the Palace Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, in the presence of King George V and Queen Mary. After correspondence with Theatre impresario Sir Edward Moss, the King said he would command a Royal Variety show in his Coronation year, 1911, provided the profits went to the Variety Artistes’ Benevolent Fund, as the Royal Variety Charity was then known. It was planned to be in the Empire Theatre, Edinburgh, part of the vast Moss Empire group, but the building caught on fire a month before the show. After the death of Moss, Sir Alfred Butt was chosen as the impresario and it was staged in 1912. This was a lavish occasion, and his London Palace Theatre was lavishly decorated, complete with some 3 million rose petals.
The Royal Variety Performance traditionally begins with the entrance of the members of the royal family followed by singing of the national anthem, which was also performed by the participating acts as a traditional end to Royal Variety Performances. (With the exception of 2020 due to the coronavirus, due to that, As If We Never Said Goodbye opened that year’s show instead, sung by that year’s host, Jason Manford).
A wide range of acts has performed at the Royal Variety Performance, including Laurel and Hardy in 1947, the Beatles in 1963, the Supremes in 1968 and the Blue Man Group in 2005. Max Bygraves and Cliff Richard are two of the most frequent performers, having appeared at least 14 and 13 times respectively between 1950-2018 appeared at the 1963 show, when John Lennon delivered the famous line: For our last number I’d like to ask your help: Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you’ll just rattle your jewellery.
The money raised by the Royal Variety Performance provides most of the funding for the Royal Variety Charity (formerly the Entertainment Artistes’ Benevolent Fund) and its care-home for retired members of the entertainment profession and their dependents, Brinsworth House. In 1974, Noele Gordon presented the Royal Variety Performance making her the first female presenter of the show.
