Queen Elizabeth Once Enjoyed Her Own Secret Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical—and It Starred a Member of the Royal Family

Members of the Royal Family have long been patrons of the performing arts, with everyone from Princess Margaret to Prince Harry taking in ballets, plays, operas and musicals. But it turns out Queen Elizabeth was once given an extraordinary gift—her very own Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical starring one of her children.

Sir Tim Rice recently revealed the story of the late Queen's private performance, sharing (via the Mirror), that in 1986, Prince Edward—who was an employee of Lloyd Webber's production company at the time—asked his boss "to pen a mini-musical for his mum" for her 60th birthday. The resulting production was "a 30-minute comedy piece called Cricket," the outlet reported, and the lyrics were created by Rice.

"lt was a private performance in a drawing room at Windsor Castle," he shared, adding that his royal guests seemed to have appreciated the show. "We enjoyed it and I think to be fair they did find it quite amusing. They were very polite and applauded and laughed in the right places."

One of the stars of the show included Prince Edward himself. "He did sing in it," Rice said. "He played a cricketer who had actually apparently died when he got hit by a cricket ball and in fact at the end of the show he got up at the end saying, 'I'm feeling better.'"

Queen Elizabeth wearing a yellow coat waving from inside a glass carriage in 1986 — Queen Elizabeth is seen celebrating her 60th birthday on April 21, 1986.

Queen Elizabeth wearing an orange coat and hat standing next to Prince Edward and smiling in 2021 — Theater-lover Prince Edward got the idea for the late Queen's birthday musical.

Along with cricket, Rice—who has written lyrics for everything from Jesus Christ Superstar to The Lion King—shared that the musical included one of Queen Elizabeth's biggest passions, horses. “It featured horse racing as well as cricket so there was a definite feeling The Queen knew we were sending up the racing world as much as the cricket world so I think she enjoyed that," he said.

As for Edward's performance, the lyricist said, "He was good enough, I think, but he probably thought, 'Well it's an advantage and a disadvantage to be royal.'" Although Edward—who was granted his late father's title, the Duke of Edinburgh, by King Charles in 2023—might have hit a roadblock with his disastrous TV career and never enjoyed a West End role, he's gone on to become one of the hardest working members of the Royal Family.

"I think he's a lovely bloke and he and his wife Sophie have done a lot of great work over the years," Rice added. "He's done a good job.”

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Kristin Contino is Marie Claire's Senior Royal and Celebrity editor. She's been covering royalty since 2018—including major moments such as the Platinum Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth II’s death and King Charles III's coronation—and places a particular focus on the British Royal Family's style and what it means.

Prior to working at Marie Claire, she wrote about celebrity and royal fashion at Page Six Style and covered royalty from around the world as chief reporter at Royal Central. Kristin has provided expert commentary for outlets including the BBC, Sky News, US Weekly, the Today Show and many others.

Kristin is also the published author of two novels, “The Legacy of Us” and “A House Full of Windsor.” She's passionate about travel, history, horses, and learning everything she can about her favorite city in the world, London.