Louder: Toyah Summoned To St James’ Palace
“I was summoned to have tea with the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret. We talked about the philosophy of punk.” In 1980, when Britain’s royal family wanted “to see what a punk rocker looks like” they invited Toyah Willcox to St James’s Palace
Toyah recalls the day she talked punk rock with royalty
In the summer of 1977, punk rock gatecrashed into the mainstream consciousness in Britain when the Sex Pistols’ second single, God Save The Queen, entered the UK charts at number 2 during the week of the official observation of Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee: it’s widely believed that the single was actually the UK’s highest-selling single that week, but the official chart stats were deliberately ‘adjusted’ to ensure that the nation’s most infamous punk band were kept from reaching number one.
As controversial as the song was, however, it seems that it didn’t necessarily alarm the monarchy, for three years later, punk starlet Toyah Willcox was summoned to one of London’s royal palaces so that Queen Elizabeth’s mother and sister could see at close quarters “what a punk rocker looks like,” according to a new [paywalled] interview the singer has given to The Telegraph.
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