Dame Darcey Bussell will celebrate her friendship with the Queen with a four-part trip documentary
Curtsying Dame Darcey Bussell to celebrate her longtime friendship with the Queen with a four-part documentary about the couple’s encounters… including the time Her Majesty told her ballet wasn’t her favorite pastime
Dame Darcey Bussell is to celebrate her longstanding friendship with the Queen in a four-part documentary leading Channel 4’s Platinum Jubilee coverage.
The former ballerina and Strictly Come Dancing judge will travel the country for a four-hour series called Darcey’s Royal Road Trip, visiting the Queen’s favorite spots such as Ascot and the Highlands.
The program will draw deep inspiration from the 53-year-old dancer’s enduring friendship with the Queen, which began in the 1980s when she joined the Royal Ballet School in Richmond.
The Queen meets President of the Royal Academy of Dance Darcey Bussell during the presentation of the Coronation Award to choreographer Sir Matthew Bourne at Buckingham Palace, London
Pictured: The Queen speaks to Darcey Bussell after her performance of Swan Lake at Earl’s Court
Their relationship developed as the Queen followed her career and they met dozens of times, including when Dame Darcey was made OBE in 1995, CBE in 2006 and made a Dame in 2018.
Her ballet ability to curtsy deeper than anyone else is a source of amusement in palace circles, and the Queen reportedly joked about her flexibility in 2014 when it was noted that the dancer had fallen so low that she ‘almost ended up on the floor’.
The Queen is patron of the Royal Academy of Dance, but Dame Darcey, its president, has admitted watching ballet is not the Queen’s favorite pastime. Once, after attending a three-hour performance, the Queen told him that she had seen enough ballet in one evening “to last him the whole year”.
Commenting on her upcoming TV series, Dame Darcey told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I have always had a deep and enduring affection for the Queen so I am particularly looking forward to embarking on this festive road trip.’
Pictured: Darcy Bussell and Zoltan Solymosi in the Royal Ballet’s production of Raymonda
Her manager Steven Howard added: “The documentary is about Darcey visiting various places that have shaped the Queen’s identity and striving to find out exactly what the Queen loves most about Britain and those wonderful places.”
Channel 4 said: “There’s barely an inch of the country the Queen hasn’t visited during her 70 years on the throne, and now Darcey wants to visit some of the places the monarch has left a lasting impression.”
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