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The Royal Wedding: A Speculative Guide to Musical Guests, From Elton John to the Spice Girls

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The Royal Wedding Guide to Musical Guests, From Elton John to the Spice Girls

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle invited 600 friends and family members to their wedding ceremony on May 19 followed by an intimate group of just 200 guests at the private evening reception. The star-studded guest list leading up to the event is notoriously secretive, even while a large public invite list will be allowed on grounds to watch the procession and the event will be livestreamed. Among the speculation regarding which A-listers will show up to the wedding, there’s also the possibility that a few musical legends grace the couple with a performance at the wedding itself or the reception that will follow. Here are a few of the stars that are rumored to perform for the royal couple.

Elton John

At the top of the list of rumored performers is Elton John, who canceled Las Vegas shows in February that happen to coincide with the wedding. On his website, the reason for the cancelation is listed as “a scheduling conflict” which isn’t a lie. The pop hitmaker was a close friend of Harry’s mother, the late Princess Diana, and sang “Candle in the Wind” at her funeral in 1997. He also performed at Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding in 2011, so, at the very least, his presence feels like it should be a foregone conclusion.

Spice Girls

If the rumors are true, Meghan and Prince Harry’s wedding might set the stage for a Spice Girls reunion. Mel B. said that all five Spice Girls were attending and hinted that they might be performing at the reception during a February appearance on daytime talk show The Real.

“I’m going to be fired,” a clearly flustered Scary Spice said after neither confirming, nor denying that the Spice Girls were playing the reception.

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After Scary Spice got a little too chatty on The Real, Sporty Spice tried to tamp down the rumors by claiming that she hadn’t been invited yet.

“I think [Mel B] was joking,” Mel C. said at The Prince’s Trust Awards in London in early March. “I think the media ran with it a little bit.”

Another incident that seems to point to a Spice Girls reunion concerns Late, Late Show guest Posh Spice getting all flustered and cagey when host James Corden asked her in April if she was going to the wedding.

Here’s Victoria Beckham delivering the world’s least convincing “I don’t know” when asked if she’s attending Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s nuptials:

On Wednesday, Page Six shot holes through the Spice Girls reunion theory with a report claiming that only three of the original five members were invited.

“Only Victoria, Emma and Geri were invited, so clearly, the Spice Girls were never going to perform,” a source said. The report went on to claim that Scary Spice was never actually invited despite what she said on The Real. Strange.

Beyonce

In January, Star ran a report claiming that Beyonce was rumored to perform. From the January 29 print issue via Rhymes with Snitch:

Palace busybodies are buzzing that Queen Bey has penciled in the May 19 nuptials on her calendar!

“Beyonce’s planning a very special, surprise performance for the newlyweds,” blabs a moat mole.

…the pop icon is beyond thrilled to be a part of the historic fairy-tale love story. “Beyonce truly considers it a crowning achievement,” squeals the source.

“She can’t wait.”

Maybe take that one with a grain of salt?

Ellie Goulding

Another likely guest and possible performer is Prince Harry’s ex and 2011 Royal Wedding performer Ellie Goulding. A friend of Goulding’s told The Sun that “Ellie has stayed good pals with Harry and is obviously really excited…She has no plans to perform this time but just wants to celebrate her friend’s marriage.” Prince Harry apparently has a habit of staying on good terms with his exes, as Goulding is one of three former flames expected to attend the nuptials, the other two being Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas.

James Blunt

Odds are that “You’re Beautiful” singer James Blunt will attend Saturday’s ceremony given that he’s good friends with Prince Harry from when the two served in the British Army together and has tweeted that he performed at the Invictus Games in 2016 after getting summoned by the prince via text. Perhaps Blunt’s good pal can convince him to sing a song or two at the reception?

Joss Stone

Another longtime friend of Prince Harry’s is Joss Stone, who served as an ambassador for the prince’s Sentebale charity benefitting sub-Saharan African youth with HIV and AIDS since 2014 and has performed at several events for the non-profit. She’s expected to be present during the big day.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason

One of the few performers to actually come out and confirm that they’re performing at the wedding is 19-year-old cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, who won the BBC Young Musician competition in 2016 and performed on Britain’s Got Talent in 2016.

Ed Sheeran

One rumored performer that likely won’t show up is Ed Sheeran. In February ET ran an exclusive claiming that Ed Sheeran had been invited to perform at the royal wedding despite the fact that Sheeran claimed not to know Prince Harry that well. At the Brit Awards a few weeks later Sheeran squashed that report by telling the BBC that he’s playing shows in Ireland the weekend of the wedding.

“I haven’t been asked either,” Sheeran said.

I guess that settles that.

Coldplay

Prince Harry is a huge Coldplay fan and he even joined the band onstage at Kensington Palace and helped Chris Martin out with the vocals on “Up&Up” in 2016 when the band played on behalf of the prince’s Sentebale charity.

Earlier this week, The Sun named Coldplay as an odds on favorite to serenade the newlyweds this weekend.

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