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Leia said in her invite:
“I asked my mum how to invite you to my recital or whether I can go
to the Palace to play for you. My mum said that she couldn’t answer
the question for you so I would have to find out myself. If you can
come to the recital, that would make me really happy!!!
” […] I do hope you are well and your
doggies are being good.”
She decided to invite The Queen
because she is beginning her performance with Tempo di
Minuetto by Kreisler, a piece of music that she envisions The Queen
arriving to.
Leia has been playing her instrument since the age of three, and is
to perform at Hexham Abbey Festival on 23rd of
September; her European tour
debut as a soloist was made with the Classical Concert Chamber
Orchestra from Los Angeles, USA.
A response came from a Lady-In-Waiting, Jennifer Gordon-Lennox,
just a few days later on behalf of Her Majesty. It politely
declined the offer, saying it was ‘most kind’ to invite Her Majesty
and the offer was ‘much appreciated’. It then wished Leia a ‘happy
and successful day’. The Queen is currently in Balmoral, taking her
annual summer holiday in the Highlands.
The musician’s mother, Yanhong Bi, 39, said: “It took her about two hours to get everything
down” and that Leia completed the letter in her ‘royal
handwriting.’
“I’m very proud of her. I said it was
a lovely idea. I really didn’t expect her to get a response so
soon.”
After Leia got a response, “she was holding it and jumping up and
down she was so excited” explains Yanhong.
photo: – Public domain from Runner1928 via Wikimedia Commons –
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wakefield_queen4.jpg#medi…]]>
I feel Her Majesty *should* attend the recital. It is very obvious the young lady in question took great care in choosing the music she felt should be played, and she took great pains in making sure the invitation was “proper”
it would be a lovely idea, but I imagine Her Majesty receives hundreds of such invitations every year, and if they are not tied to an already planned visit or a suitable charity they must all be declined. The Queen’s Diary is planned meticulously, often years in advance, and on top of that Her Duties are being scaled back due to her age, slotting in a child’s recital would be very difficult even if she wished to attend.
As Glasgow1975 has said, Her Majesty has a very busy schedule of official events to attend, and to attend one young girl’s recital because she was invited opens a whole can of worms. When The Queen could not attend a particular personal invite, there would be a certain degree of backlash because of this, if she regularly attended other personal (and non-charity related) invites.