Hospital worker 'living in a fairy tale' after singing at the Royal wedding

A manager from Guy’s and St Thomas’ says she is ‘living in a fairy tale’ after performing at the Royal wedding with The Kingdom Choir.

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.

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.