Prince Harry 'unable to sing' after teasing collab with Bon Jovi
Prince Harry is wrapping up his final few weeks as a senior royal with a bang, enlisting none other than rock royalty Jon Bon Jovi to help record a song for this year’s Invictus Games.
The Duke, 35, dropped in on the “Living On A Prayer” hitmaker at London’s iconic Abbey Road studios on Friday where he’s recording a new version of his song “Unbroken” for the May sporting event.
A teaser video shared on the Sussex Royal Instagram account ahead of the engagement showed Harry and Jon in the recording booth, suggesting that the father-of-one would contribute his voice to the rousing track.
Duke doesn’t sing
Sussex Royal also shared a snap to Stories of Harry holding a guitar, further hinting at his musical potential.
In the very next post shared a few hours later, however, it was made very clear that the Duke’s vocals would not appear in the song as he was ‘unable to sing’ and decided to leave the task to members of the Invictus Games choir.
“Although The Duke was unable to sing, leaving the vocals to the professionals, the special single that was recorded in Studio 2 where The Beatles recorded 11 out of their 13 albums, and will be released in March in support of the @WeAreInvictusGames,” Sussex Royal stated in the caption for the round-up video of Harry’s visit.
Harry hams it up
Despite not making a cameo on the track, Harry appeared in great spirits and smiled, laughed and joked with Jon who took him on a tour of the control room overlooking Studio 2, where The Beatles recorded during the 1960s.
Proving that he’s still as cheeky as ever, at one point Harry joked with an engineer, “We’ve been gargling next door, so we’re ready to go.”
Harry later braved the rain along with Jon and two choir members to recreate the famous photo of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road, with local police stopping traffic so the foursome could get the snap.
Jon too showed off his sense of humour in an earlier interview on BBC’s Radio 2, referring to the Duke as “the artist formerly known as prince.”
He went on to say that it was “pretty special” that Harry was joining him in the famous studio in the wake of the Megxit crisis.
“In light of everything that’s gone on in his life, for him to be coming back and this be the first thing on his docket I think was pretty special,” Jon said.
The Sussexes hinted at Jon and Harry’s collaboration with a funny video on their account last week in which they shared a jokey imagined text exchange between Harry and Jon.
In reference to one of Bon Jovi’s best-loved songs, Harry quipped: “Ha! Don’t expect me to sing... BUT I’ll give it a shot.”
The song “Unbroken” was originally written by Bon Jovi to draw attention to veterans living with post-traumatic stress disorder and mark their service.
He himself has a close link with the military as both of his parents served in the US Marine Corps.
Wrapping up royal life
The Abbey Road appearance was Harry’s first since the Canadian government announced they would not be paying for he and his wife Meghan Markle’s security after they officially cease royal duties on March 31.
Henceforth, he and his wife Meghan will step back from their duties and will work toward financial independence, not getting any money from the crown.
Prince Harry kicked off his return to the UK with a trip to Edinburgh where he hosted a conference for his travel project Travalyst and reportedly asked people to simply call him by his first name only.
Next week, the Duchess of Sussex will join him at events such as the Endeavour Fund awards and the Mountbatten Festival of Music.
But it appears that there’s no hard feeling from the rest of the royal family, with Buckingham Palace marking Harry’s Abbey Road visit by playing a medley of Bon Jovi songs during the Changing of the Guard.
🎺Guard Change at Buckingham Palace!
Today the @ScotsGuardsBand played a special @BonJovi medley to celebrate his collaboration with @WeAreInvictus ! The Queen’s Guard handed over responsibility for protecting Buckingham Palace and St James’s Palace to the New Guard. pic.twitter.com/2KRFDsc2ac— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) February 28, 2020
Additional reporting by Rebecca Taylor.
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