When the Queen asked to meet George Michael: Royal was Wham! fan and 'knew all their hits'
4 June 2021, 16:52
Wham!'s ex-manager has revealed Queen Elizabeth II was a huge fan of the band and requested an audience with George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in 1985.
Bryan Morrison, whose posthumus memoirs were published this month after his death in 2008, recalls how the Queen once asked to meet Wham! in 1985.
The influential manager, who alongside Wham! represented Pink Floyd, the Bee Gees and T.Rex, was co-founder of The Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club where Prince Charles, Prince Harry and Prince William regularly play the sport.
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It was there, at a polo match in 1985, where the Queen asked if Andrew Ridgeley and George Michael could be invited along for a meeting.
In his book Have a Cigar! Bryan recalls being told the news that the monarch wanted to meet the pop duo.
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“Through an emissary, I learnt that the Queen had heard that I was managing and publishing Wham! and that she would like to meet them,” he says.
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Upon receiving the unusual request, George and Andrew were invited to the polo club to have an audience with the Queen.
“To my amazement, on greeting them, the Queen knew all of their hits and spent a great deal of time listening to their exploits,” Bryan recalls.
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Later that year George Michael, who also shared a close friendship with Princess Diana, spoke about his meeting with Elizabeth II.
“It was at a drinks thing in a marquee after some polo match," George said.
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"There were lots of other people there, but she did speak to me. She asked me about China, and said that she hadn’t been there but that she might be going there next year."
“She was really very sweet. And small," he added.
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It isn't the first time that the Queen's taste in contemporary pop music has been revealed.
In a BBC documentary aired in 2016, it was revealed that the monarch's taste in music was “mainstream, no airs and graces” - with favourite tracks including songs by Gary Barlow, Dame Vera Lynn and Fred Astaire.
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Music manager Bryan Morrison, who through his love of polo became a close friend of the royal family, recalls in his memoirs that Prince Charles has a surprisingly good singing voice.
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After overhearing the future King singing hymns at a private christening in 1986, Bryan recalls Charles had a “rather lovely baritone voice” and that he even tried to persuade the Prince to release a charity single.
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In his recently published autobiography, Bryan says: “I remarked to the Prince that he should make a record. He had an extremely good voice.
“I suggested that we should make a Christmas charity record. He laughed and said, ‘Why not?’”
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Unfortunately the royal collaboration was never to be.
After suffering a polo accident, Bryan Morrison fell into a coma for two years and sadly passed away in 2008, aged 66.
His book Have a Cigar!: The Memoir of the Man Behind Pink Floyd, T Rex, the Jam and George Michael is out now.
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