NEWS

By Tom_Mack  |  Posted: April 11, 2017

Legendary singer Engelbert Humperdinck will be flying back home to Leicester for lunch with the Queen on Thursday.

Her Majesty and Prince Phillip will be in the city to attend the Maundy Thursday service at Leicester Cathedral and their visit will include lunch at St Martins House next door.

The cathedral has drawn up a varied list of local heroes including people running small charities, youngsters who set up a skate park in Measham, a handful of MPs and civic dignitaries and just the one global superstar.

Engelbert will be visiting briefly after a tour of the eastern states of the USA and Canada.

He said: "The excitement for the Royal visit has been building for weeks. What a wonderful moment in time to welcome Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip to our city.

"I'm thrilled to be able to share the viewing of the Maundy Thursday service.

"The route being taken will put a regal touch on all of our collective memories of our beloved city.

"I used to meet my wife under the clock tower 60 years ago and now I can add Her Majesty to the retelling of my story in the future."

Enge said he was also hoping to catch up with his old friend Leicester City legend Alan Birchenall, who suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this year.

He said: "I shall be on the look out for my dear friend, Alan, who owes me a catch up get-together.

"What a better one for the memory book than to do it in the Queen's presence?"

Recalling the last time he met the Queen in 2014 he said: "The last time I had the honour of being in the presence of Queen Elizabeth was at Buckingham Palace.

"It was a little like a fairy tale but at the moment of acknowledgement, I said, 'Your Majesty....Engelbert Humperdinck' and bowed as deeply and respectfully as possible.

"Nothing was captured on film but it will forever play in my own history book."

The Queen goes to a different cathedral each year to hand out special coins, called Maundy money, to people who have served their local churches and communities.

Canon, pastor and sub-dean of the cathedral Alison Adams, who is organising the event, said: "The recipients in the cathedral will be people who are doing things for their community and so we wanted the lunch event to reflect that.

"Engelbert is an honorary freeman of the city and people in that category, who have done something good in their lives, are the people we thought would be suitable.

"The lunch is a celebration of local things so instead of filling the lunch with civic dignitaries we are inviting all kinds of people who are doing great things in the city and county."

Read more at http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/engelbert-humperdinck-and-the-queen-to-have-lunch-together-in-leicester-tomorrow/story-30263192-detail/story.html#fqfDATud5UOvkw2W.99