To mark Commonwealth Day, King Charles has released a playlist in collaboration with Apple Music.
Becoming the first British monarch in history to record their own podcast – which was aired in full from 6am this morning – King Charles, 76, has nominated 17 of his favourite songs from across the Commonwealth.
‘Throughout my life, music has meant a great deal to me,’ the King explains as he narrates the hour-long show from his office at Buckingham Palace.
‘I know that is also the case for so many others. But it has that remarkable ability to bring happy memories flooding back from the deepest recesses of our memory; to comfort us in times of sadness; and to take us to distant places.
‘But perhaps, above all, it can lift our spirits to such a degree; and all the more so when it brings us together in celebration. In other words, it brings us joy.
‘So this is what I particularly wanted to share with you in this collection – songs which have brought me joy.’
Crossing continents and genres, ‘The King’s Music Room’ includes legendary artists Bob Marley, Diana Ross and Kylie Minogue alongside contemporary talent such as RAYE.
Here, MailOnline breaks down the hidden meanings behind the King’s eclectic choice of songs – from extending a potential olive branch to his son Prince Harry to the not-so subtle nods to his beloved wife Queen Camilla.
A photo issued by Apple of Music of King Charles III launching The King’s Music Room show
Bob Marley & The Wailers – ‘Could You Be Loved’
Released in 1980, ‘Could You Be Loved’ was written on a plane in 1979 as The Wailers returned from Brazil and were experimenting with a riff on the guitar.
It featured on the reggae group’s last album Uprising and is included on Bob Marley & The Wailers’ greatest hits album Legend.
Could you be loved and be love?
As Marley was diagnosed with cancer in 1977, many fans interpret the song to mean being true to yourself, no matter the consequences. ‘Don’t let them fool ya! Or even try to school ya!’, he sings.
The year ‘Could You Be Loved’ was released, Prince Charles’s relationship with Lady Diana Spencer was made public.
But it has been well documented that Charles was still in love with Camilla Parker-Bowles, a married woman, when he started dating Diana.
Perhaps the song resonated with the prince who was torn between following his heart to be with Camilla or marrying Diana, a woman born into an aristocratic family who was more suited to the throne.
As Marley questioned, ‘Could you be loved and be love?’, so too did Charles in his now-famous engagement interview.
Charles and Camilla with a Rasta band at Bob Marley Museum in Kingston, Jamaica, in 2008
Charles and Diana got engaged in February 1981
During their engagement interview, Prince Charles famously said: ‘Whatever in love means’
When the interviewer asked the pair if they are ‘in love’, Diana replied, ‘Of course’, before Charles remarked: ‘Whatever in love means.’
In his new podcast, the King speaks of meeting Bob Marley when he came to London before his tragic death in 1981 at the age of just 36.
The monarch says of Marley, who would have turned 80 this year: ‘I remember when he came to London to perform when I was much younger, and I met him at some event.
‘That marvellous, infectious energy, of course, he had, but also his deep sincerity, and his profound concern for his community. I always recall his words: “The people have a voice inside of them”. He gave the world that voice in a way that no-one who heard can ever forget.’
Kylie Minogue – ‘The Loco-Motion’
The King revealed he first became an unlikely fan of Kylie Minogue after the pop singer, and ambassador for his then Prince’s Trust, came to St James’s Palace to perform in 2012 ahead of a Diamond Jubilee visit to Australia.
She had already been appointed by Queen Elizabeth as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the traditional New Year’s honours list.
Since, the Australian singer became somewhat of a staple at royal events, performing at the Royal Variety Show in 2015 at the Queen’s 92nd birthday in 2018.
Pop singer Kylie Minogue receives an OBE from Charles at Buckingham Palace in July 2008
The Australian artist meets then Prince of Wales at the London Palladium in 2018
‘The Loco-Motion’ was Minogue’s third single, released in July 1987 – a year after Charles told his official biographer Jonathan Dimbleby that he picked things back up again with Camilla. It is also alleged that Diana’s affair with army captain James Hewitt started around this time.
In 1987, there were rumours of a ‘royal break’ as Diana did not join the royal family’s annual summer trip to Balmoral and the pair looked distant during several public appearances.
There’s never been a dance that’s so easy to do. It even makes you happy when you’re feeling blue.
The lyrics to the dance hit ‘Loco-Motion’ may have been reflective of Charles’s mindset at the time: ‘There’s never been a dance that’s so easy to do. It even makes you happy when you’re feeling blue.’
Describing the song as having an ‘infectious energy’, the 76-year-old sovereign said: ‘This is music for dancing….it has that infectious energy which makes it, I find, incredibly hard to sit still! There is such an irresistibly joyous feeling to that song.’
Davido — ‘KANTE’ (feat. Fave)
In 2023, Nigeran artist Davido released the song KANTE. It features lyrics in pidgin English which the King said he loves ‘in all its forms’, reflecting on the time he made a speech in the language during his visit to Lagos, Nigeria in 2018.
Speaking in a mixture of pidgin and Yoruba – a West African language – he said it was ‘particularly special to be here, just a few days before my 70th birthday, in the land of the Owambe’, a Yoruba word for lavish parties.
Warming to his theme at the residence of the deputy high commissioner in Lagos, Charles said: ‘Una people. Na fine Lagos people (Wonderful people of Lagos). I hail you!’
Prince Charles speaks with Commonwealth Walkway representatives in Lagos in November 2018
Supermodel Naomi Campbell speaks with Prince Charles during his tour of Nigeria
It is believed that Camilla acts as a calming presence for King Charles
‘How you dey? (How are you?),’ he added, prompting cheers and laughter from the audience, which included supermodel Naomi Campbell.
When it was released on March 31, 2023, the romantic lyrics to KANTE may have resonated with the King who had been married to Camilla for nearly 13 years by then.
‘High up in the cloud. I wanna love you for life. I no go like to say goodbye,’ KANTE sings. ‘You know the buttons to press to ease up my stress. I cannot compare you.’
You know the buttons to press to ease up my stress. I cannot compare you.
At the time, palace insiders told People magazine that Camilla was a calming presence as she supported Charles in the run up to his coronation on May 6, 2023.
‘She is the yin to his yang,’ a well-placed source told the publication. ‘She is the type to say, ‘It’ll all be fine; let’s crack on and get on with things.’
Al Bowlly — ‘The Very Thought of You’
Paying tribute to the Queen Mother, Charles played one of her favourite tracks: Al Bowlly’s ‘The Very Thought of You’. He said: ‘It reminds me of my much-loved grandmother, because she used to play these sorts of music a lot’.
The mother of the late Queen died at the age of 101 in 2002. She was somewhat of a second mother to Charles, according to royal biographer Gareth Russell.
The Queen Mother and Prince Charles had a close relationship. She was somewhat of a second mother to Charles, according to royal biographer Gareth Russell
Prince Charles walks with his grandmother The Queen Mother at Sandringham in 1968
The pair share a hoke at the Epsom Racecourse in June 1986. The Queen Mother was said to be supportive of Prince Charles’s creative side
‘In some ways, the Queen Mother was a mother figure to Charles just because the Queen became Queen when Charles was so young,’ Russell told People Magazine.
‘There were a lot of tours of the Commonwealth and every time the Queen had to go away, Prince Charles stayed with the Queen Mother. They had a great sense of humour, and she always encouraged him.’
I see your face in every flower. Your eyes in stars above.
It is believed the Queen Mother was supportive of Charles’s more creative side, encouraging him to paint with watercolours and to recite Shakespeare. There is no doubt she would have also been approving of his playlist.
With an ‘on air’ sign placed on his desk, Charles said music from the 1930s ‘never fails to lift my spirits’. ‘This was an era of songs made memorable by brilliant lyrics, incredible bands and unstoppable rhythm,’ the King said.
Siti Nurhaliza — ‘Anta Permana’
Malaysian singer Siti Nurhaliza released the song ‘Anta Permana’ in September 2018 and it soon rocketed up the local charts.
It was composed by Ezra Kong and Hael Husaini and its title was derived from a classic Malay word which means infinity.
In ‘The King’s Music Room’, Charles celebrates how the song is ‘about love that is stronger than time.’ In the royal’s case, Prince Charles first met Camilla at a polo match at Windsor Great Park in 1970.
Prince Charles first met Camilla at a polo match in 1970. Pictured: The pair speaking at another polo match in July 1975
Charles and Camilla finally tied the knot in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall in April 2005
Through failed marriages, national scandals and a saucy leaked phone conversation, their love has endured the test of time.
The pair finally tied the knot in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall in April 2005 – three decades after they first met. Headlines at the time read: ‘Married at last’.
Michael Bublé — ‘Haven’t Met You Yet’
To represent the Commonwealth country Canada, the King added Michael Bublé’s ‘Haven’t Met You Yet’ to his playlist.
I promise you kid that I’ll give so much more than I get. I just haven’t met you yet.
According to Bublé, the upbeat song, which is dedicated to his wife Luisana Lopilato, is about waiting to find Mr or Mrs Right – although some fans have interpreted it as an ode to an unborn child.
‘And I know someday that it’ll all turn out. You’ll make me work so we can work to work it out,’ Bublé sings.
‘And I promise you kid that I’ll give so much more than I get. I just haven’t met you yet.’
Keen royal watchers have suggested that the inclusion of a Bublé song on the playlist is an attempt by the King to extend an olive branch to his son Prince Harry and daughter-in-law Meghan Markle who are known to be friends with the Canadian singer.
Indeed, the Sussexes dined with Bublé and his wife Luisana at an Indian restaurant in Vancouver in early February as they were in the area to attend the Invictus Games.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attend the Invictus Games with Michael Bublé and his wife Luisana Lopilato
Meghan and Harry with their son Archie during a meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mrs Tutu at their legacy foundation in Cape Town
It is reported that Princess Lilibet has only met her grandfather King Charles once
Others have pointed out that it may be a way for the King to subtly ask for a reunion with his grandchildren Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet who he is believed to have no contact with.
The children have not visited the UK since 2022, with the youngest of the two Sussex children, Lilibet, having only met her grandfather King Charles once.
Diana Ross — ‘Upside Down’
One of his ‘particular favourites’ featured on the playlist is ‘Upside Down’ by Diana Ross. The song is about the singer sticking with a cheating lover because he keeps their relationship exciting by turning her emotions ‘upside down’ and ‘inside out’.
‘When I was much younger, it was absolutely impossible not to get up and dance when it was played! So, I wonder if I can still just manage it? ‘ he jested.
I’m crazy to think you’re all mine. As long as the sun continues to shine There’s a place in my heart for you, that’s the bottom line.
And Charles is not the only royal with a love for the American singer, known as ‘The Queen of Motown Records’.
Ross headlined the Platinum Jubilee concert in London during the celebrations to mark Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne in 2022.
When introduced on stage that night, the singer was declared to be ‘a particular favourite’ of the royals.
Prince Charles meets Diana Ross during the Safeway Picnic at Hyde Park in 2002
The American singer performs during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022
‘Crazy in Love’ (feat. Jay-Z)
Although Beyoncé is not a Commonwealth artist, Charles insisted on including her song ‘Crazy in Love’ in his playlist for a myriad of reasons.
It’s the way that you know what I thought I knew. It’s the beat that my heart skips when I’m with you.
Firstly, he describes her as ‘a performer so exceptional that I just could not resist including her music’.
Charles then thanks ‘Queen Bey’ for her work helping support the Prince’s Trust, and now, the King’s Trust. Indeed, she performed the track Crazy in Love at a Prince’s Trust concert in 2003.
Describing her as ‘incomparable’, the King also made a point of congratulating the star on winning her first album of the year award at the Grammys – a ‘shout-out’, royal sources say, he ‘personally’ asked to include.
Recorded at his desk in Buckingham palace last month, the King’s Music Room can be heard live for free on Apple Music Radio this week and to subscribers on download.
