King Charles III hails RAYE “a great ambassador for British music” 

King Charles III has shared his love of RAYE, and described the singer as “a great ambassador for British music”.

• READ MORE: RAYE: “I became a ‘rent-a-verse’. People knew my songs, but they didn’t know me”

The comments came as the King shared a personally-curated playlist of his favourite songs on a one-off radio show this morning (March 10).

Made in partnership with Apple Music, ‘The King’s Music Room’, celebrated music from across the Commonwealth and saw him offer a first-hand explanation about how the songs included came to form the soundtrack of his life.

Among those listed was RAYE, who King Charles praised as being one of the names best highlighting the musical talent coming out of Britain.

“I was particularly pleased to meet RAYE, when I visited Battersea Power Station in December to see how my Princes’ Trust – now renamed the King’s Trust – continues to help young people, very nearly half a century since I first founded it,” he began.

“Anyone who saw RAYE perform at the Grammy Awards will know that she is a great ambassador for British music.”

He continued, sharing how the singer’s mother’s Ghanaian heritage brought back fond memories for him. These included the time he was given a bow and arrow at Balmoral by the then-Ghanaian Prime Minister, Kwame Nkrumah. “I went straight out and fired into a nearby pine tree and then couldn’t get the arrow out again,” he recalled (via The Mirror).

You are the dancing King…

King Charles has shared a playlist that brings him joy – with songs that have made it "incredibly hard to sit still" – to mark this year's Commonwealth Day pic.twitter.com/WnT6BO6kJx

— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 10, 2025

Elsewhere in the playlist, the royal also named Diana Ross’ hit song ‘Upside Down’ as one he loved in his youth, saying: “It was impossible not to get up and dance when it was played, and I wonder if I can still just manage it.”

He also recalled the time Kylie Minogue performed a rendition of ‘The Loco-Motion’ in 2012.

“Kylie Minogue came to St. James’ Palace to perform this song in 2012, in advance of the Diamond Jubilee visit to Australia,” the King explained. “We had a large reception from Australians in the United Kingdom, and as Kylie is an ambassador for my now-King’s Trust, she very generously agreed to come and perform. The song is ‘The Loco-motion’, and it is music for dancing. Again, it has that infectious energy which makes it, I find, incredibly hard to sit still.”

Check out the full clip above, or listen to the playlist in full here.

News of the playlist was shared last week, and described as a compilation of songs that would reflect the royal’s personal taste, including 1930s crooners, Afrobeats stars, disco icons and reggae giants.

“Throughout my life, music has meant a great deal to me. I know that is also the case for so many others. It has that remarkable ability to bring happy memories flooding back from the deepest recesses of our memory, to comfort us in times of sadness, and to take us to distant places,” he said in the introductory remarks.

“But perhaps, above all, it can lift our spirits to such a degree, and all the more so when it brings us together in celebration. In other words, it brings us joy.”

His comments about RAYE at the Grammys come as the London-based singer took to the stage at the 97th Academy Awards in Los Angeles earlier this month – joining Doja Cat and BLACKPINK’s Lisa for a medley of classic James Bond themes to celebrate the legendary spy movie franchise.

Afterwards, she revealed she was “so nervous” to cover ‘Skyfall’, claiming that “no one can sing Adele like Adele”.

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