The choirboy who sang at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge has said the service was “an amazing occasion to be part of”.
Tom Fetherstonhaugh was just 13 years old when he sang a moving solo at the royal wedding in 2011, and as Prince William and his wife Catherine – who was known as Kate Middleton before the wedding – celebrate a decade of marriage, Tom has looked back on his important role.
Writing in a piece for the Daily Telegraph newspaper, he said: “During my time in the Westminster Abbey Choir, I became accustomed to rubbing shoulders with famous people. But nothing could prepare me for how it would feel to sing at a royal wedding, in front of an estimated two billion viewers. Ten years ago, I had that honour, singing at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge when I was 13 years old.
“When I was told that I was going to be singing at Prince William and Catherine Middleton’s wedding, including a short solo, I was delighted. Although it sounds like a lot of pressure, I was used to not letting these events faze me. We were trained from such a young age to be professionals that the thought of a televised service did not feel any different.”
Tom didn’t realise how important the performance would be until the day before, when he saw all the people who had travelled to see the wedding.
He added: “However, the nerves did kick in the day before. On a walk around London with some friends, I came across people who had travelled from all over the world, in the hope of getting a glimpse of William and Kate. That is when it hit home just how many people were going to be watching this service.”
The singer is now 23, and says he now understands the “significance of the event” more than he did at the time.
He wrote: “When the wedding was over the first thing we did was to watch the wedding on iPlayer. As a 13-year-old, it was so exciting to see myself on national television. It was a bank holiday, so lots of my friends from outside the choir school were watching too. Looking back 10 years later, I understand the significance of the event so much more. It was an amazing occasion to be part of – even if I didn’t fully realise it at the time.”