CHIT CHAT, IT'S A DOG'S LIFE - THE STAGE

Tabard's royal correspondent was recently on hand to pass us a delightful little tit-bit about some theatrical goings on at Windsor Castle.

The National Youth Music Theatre was asked to perform at a private royal dinner held in Windsor's Waterloo Room in front of pretty much the entirety of the royal family - including Mrs Queen herself.

During the afternoon, before the Saturday evening event, the NYMT company - made up for 27 performers and 13 musicians - was rehearsing a section from its production of The Dreaming, as they put the finishing touches to their royal performance.

Director Jeremy James Taylor was overseeing events, when he felt a wet nose on the back of his leg. The cast had been warned that the police would be checking in on them with sniffer dogs, so he thought little of it until he turned around to discover one of the Queen's corgis with its mistress only a few paces behind.

No - I'm afraid the Queens hasn't taken to investigating suspicious visitors herself, she was merely dropping by to check on how rehearsals were going.

Taylor added: "The performance went down an absolute storm - it went down fabulously. The Queen was wonderful, chatting to everybody - especially the younger performers."

Tabard also hears that while the Queen was talking to some of the younger performers, Princess Beatrice was busy chatting with a few of the older ones - she was observed deep in conversation with one of the male performers, discussing the itchiness of their tights.

R'S DIARY - THE EVENING STANDARD

Prince Edward organised a special entertainment for his mother's 80th birthday at Windsor on Saturday. It included singing by the St George's Chapel Choir and a short musical called The Dreaming, staged by the National Youth Music Theatre in the Waterloo Room at the Castle, attended by the Lord Carrington, Lord Hurd and Nicholas Soames MP. The show was not a complete surprise for the Queen who happened to look in for the rehearsals earlier in the afternoon. "We had been warned there might be police and sniffer dogs," says Jeremy James Taylor, who directed the musical. "I was rather startled to find the dogs at my feet licking my legs were royal corgis."

A guest observes, "After all her celebrations I would have though she should have had her feet up."

QUEENS 80th BIRTHDAY - THE DAILY MAIL

There was an unnerving moment for the National Youth Music Theatre director Jeremy James Taylor before the Queen's 80th birthday party at Windsor Castle on Saturday night. For while he was putting the finishing touches to his company's performance for the event, Her Majesty discreetly slipped in to check to the table settings were in order. Yet Taylor was alerted to the Queen's presence in a most unexpected manner; as he rehearsed the 60-strong choir in the Waterloo Chamber, he felt a snuffling around his ankles and then a warm, wet lick.

"He'd been told to expect sniffer dogs as every member of the Royal Family was there." Says an organiser, "but when he looked down, he saw it was a corgi".
 

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