Taylor Swift reportedly turned down an invite to perform at King Charles III’s coronation concert. (Terry Wyatt/Getty)
Taylor Swift reportedly turned down an invitation to perform at King Charles’ coronation concert, according to a new book from Omid Scobie.
The royal commentator, bestselling author, and ally to the Sussexes has released his second book about the royal family, entitled Endgame.
The book, marketed as a look “inside the royal family and the monarchy’s fight for survival”, makes a number of explosive claims about King Charles III and co.
One such claim is that Taylor Swift was among a list of A-list stars who rejected – or “shrugged off” an invitation to perform at Charles’s coronation concert earlier this year.
In the end, the line-up for the Windsor Castle concert included Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, Take That, and Andrea Bocelli – but Scobie alleges that plenty of other stars were asked.
In Taylor’s defence, the “Karma” singer was in the midst of her worldwide Era’s Tour by the time the concert came around. In fact, on the night of Charles’s concert, Swift was scheduled to play in Nashville, Tennessee.
Not only that, but 2023 has marked one of the biggest years in Swift’s career, with obsession over the pop star growing so much that there are now reporters and even camera operators solely dedicated to covering all things Taylor.
But Swift is just one of the big names who reportedly declined the invitation to play for Charles’s big day.
In Endgame, Scobie suggests that these rejections might prove that Charles isn’t as popular as his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who had a star-studded line-up at her Platinum Jubilee just one year earlier.
Scobie writes that King Charles III “just doesn’t have the requisite gravitas” that his mother had, noting that organising a decent line-up for the coronation concert “proved a challenge for the organisers” due to the “long” list of musicians who turned down the invitation.
An excerpt from the book reads: “With the country facing economic crises at home and reputational bruising abroad, large sections of the public are increasingly less tolerant of royal extravagance and family dramas.
“Even finding entertainment for [Charles’s] coronation court at Windsor Castle proved a challenge for the organisers. The list of acts who declined the invitation to perform was long and included Sir Elton John, Harry Styles, the Spice Girls, Adele, Taylor Swift, and Ed Sheeran.
“Contrast that with the line-up for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee: Queen (with Adam Lambert), Alicia Keys, Sir Rod Stewart, Diana Ross, and, more than happy to clear his schedule for Her Majesty, even Sir Elton.”
Although rejections from the likes of Swift, who really did have a busy schedule, “may seem frivolous”, Scobie writes that they were a sign of “something deeper at work.”
The royal commentator adds: “In our era of celebrity obsession and pop culture icons, if Elton and Harry Styles can’t be bothered, why should we be?”
There has not been any official response from Buckingham Palace nor Kensington Palace regarding to claims made in Scobie’s new release.