Katy Perry poked fun at King Charles ‘talking to his plants’

Around 20,000 people are expected to flock to Windsor Castle tonight to watch the Coronation Concert many more tuning into BBC One to watch the fun from home.

Take That, Lionel Ritchie and Katy Perry will be performing at the event celebrating yesterday’s crowning of King Charles and Queen Camilla.

Following the announcement last month that she was performing at the show this evening, 38-year-old Katy Perry said she was “grateful” to have been asked to perform, adding that she would be bringing the “light” and the “love” to the Coronation in an interview with Access Hollywood. Perry met the newly crowned King several years ago.

Just months later, she was made an ambassador for his South Asian charity during a black-tie dinner where she teased playfully about how the then-Prince of Wales encourages his plants to grow.

READ MORE: Katy Perry details ‘wild’ Castle plan for King’s Coronation

In February 2020, the US singer was named ambassador to King Charles’s anti-trafficking charity, British Asian Trust, as part of a drive to tackle the issue at a dinner.

The pair had met in November the year prior to the event so when Perry first saw Charles she said “hello again” before shaking hands with him as well as Queen Camilla.

At the yearly black-tie dinner, held at Banqueting House in London, Perry introduced the then Prince of Wales, making a point to mention his “incredibly kind soul”.

The hit singer then proceeded to mention how Charles talks to plants — adding that the King had asked whether she would serenade his plants for him which she promised to do, turning and smiling to him as she said so.

Perry said: “I’m excited to be here because I’m a big fan of his royal highness and all the work that he has done and is continuing to do, especially in India for children.

“In my own personal experience, he has an incredibly kind soul. So kind, that yes, sometimes he talks to his plants. And he asked me if I could sing to his plants. And I will, in the future, you have my word, Sir.”

For the majority of his lifetime, the King has spoken about environmental sustainability and has long been dedicated to both his garden.

In fact, he admitted in both 1986 and 2012 that he talks to his plants, something he has long believed is “important” as they talk back with it being “crucial” that they are listened to as it helps them grow.

Although the 74-year-old Monarch has long been teased for admitting to this past time, he was vindicated last year as a David Attenborough BBC1 series found that plants and trees communicate and concluded that people do not engage with them enough.

Following Katy’s speech, Charles then took to the stage, thanking Perry for the introduction, admitting that he had been warned that the popstar said she was going to make it “slightly more spicy”.

He said: “I’m enormously grateful to Katy Perry for such a kind introduction which she told me just now she wanted to make slightly more spicy… but I think she resisted the temptation.”

He then announced that she was becoming the ambassador of the charity for India, where child trafficking is a significant issue.

While Perry’s appointment to the British Asian Trust was criticised by some at the time, it was argued that she was given the role thanks to her ongoing experience and dedication to charity work.

Both Perry and her partner, actor Orlando Bloom, with whom she has a child, are UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors.

Perry was granted the UNICEF role in 2013 thanks to her work to help children in the likes of Madagascar to Vietnam. Three years later, she received the charity’s Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award.

Perry told Access Hollywood last month that she hopes performing at the Coronation concert will give a platform to UNICEF and the King’s charity, which he set up in 2007.

She said: “I’m going [to the Coronation conert] to represent myself as an ambassador to bring the light and the love — that’s all I ever want to bring.”