Laura Wright reflects on being the first to sing God Save the King at a sporting event

Laura Wright has reflected on being the first person to sing God Save the King at a sporting event after the Queen’s death.

The opera singer, 32, said she could feel the crowd ‘hold their breath’ as she sang before the England v South Africa Test match at the Oval on Saturday.

She belted out the new version of the National Anthem, which lyrics have been amended to reflect the new monarch, King Charles III. 

‘I could feel the crowd hold their breath before I started singing,’ the mezzo-soprano told the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden. 

‘I only needed to sing four or five words differently, but the significance of those changes shook everyone.’

Speaking about the changes to the lyrics, Laura said she had to repeat them ‘over and over’ to make sure she didn’t sing the former version of the National Anthem.

‘Before the match began, I repeated [the words] over and over in my mind. I had to focus purely on the music so that the emotion of the moment didn’t affect my performance,’ she added.

‘The significance shook everyone’: The opera singer, 32, said she could feel the crowd ‘hold their breath’ as she sang before the England v South Africa Test match at the Oval on Saturday

Ahead of the third day’s play at the Oval, where Laura sang the National Anthem, there was a poignant commemoration of the Queen, followed by an impeccably observed minute’s silence.

The silence was broken only by a one-bell chime from a member of the Irish Guards before Laura sang the national anthems of both South Africa and England. 

Laura has met the Queen and has performed at her 90th birthday, her Diamond Jubilee, and the recent Royal Albert Hall concert ‘to kick-start celebrations for her 70 years on the throne’.

Her latest comments come after Laura revealed she once ’embarrassingly’ offered to give the Queen singing lessons after hearing the late monarch performing a few bars of a song.

Amusing: Her comments come after Laura revealed she once ’embarrassingly’ offered to give the Queen singing lessons after hearing the late monarch performing a few bars of a song 

She revealed on Good Morning Britain this morning that Her Majesty ‘broke into song’ when they met for the first time alongside Gary Barlow and other members of the music industry during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. 

She said: ‘Rather embarrassingly so, I was meeting the Queen alongside Gary Barlow and other members of the music industry talking about her Jubilee celebrations and performing the piece of music called Sing.

‘She broke into part of the song which we were all quite shocked by.’

She recalled: ‘The Queen mentioned, ‘Oh of course Laura you would be able to that that much better than me’, and I said, ‘Of course not your majesty but I could give you some singing lessons’.’

After revealing she had offered the Queen ‘singing lessons’ in the awkward moment, Laura continued: ‘I think…anyone in that moment you don’t know what to say.

‘You’re trying to think of something really clever and intelligent to say and that’s just what came out.’

‘But she smiled and it is definitely something I am going to remember forever.’

Royalty: Laura has met the Queen and performed at her 90th birthday, her Diamond Jubilee, and the Royal Albert Hall concert ‘to kick-start celebrations for her 70 years on the throne’