Royal Command Performance

A Royal Command Performance in the United Kingdom is any performance by actors or musicians that occurs at the direction or request of a reigning monarch.

Although English monarchs have long sponsored their own theatrical companies and commissioned theatrical performances, the first Royal Command Performance to bear that name was staged at Windsor Castle in 1848 by order of Queen Victoria. From then on, command performances were frequently staged, often calling upon the leading actors from the London theatres, until the death of Prince Albert in 1861. There were no further command performances until they recommenced in 1881. These included plays, revues, comic operas and other musical theatre. King Edward VII called for several performances per year.

In 1911 a Great 'Gala' performance was given by the theatrical profession at His Majesty's Theatre in London in celebration of the coronation of King George V.

In 1912, King George V and Queen Mary attended an all-star Royal Command Performance at London's Palace Theatre in aid of the Variety Artistes' Benevolent Fund, now the Royal Variety Charity.

This was followed in 1919 by the first to be named the Royal Variety Performance. The reason for the name change followed desire from Buckingham Palace that the show should 'clearly reflect all areas of show business popular amongst the masses of the time'. Hence, a variety of entertainment, including music (of all genres), comedy, dance, music-hall and speciality acts - rather than for it be incorrectly perceived as one reflecting the Royal Family's own specific choice of artistes.

King George V became patron of the Royal Variety Charity in 1921 and decreed that the monarch or a senior member of the British Royal family would attend an annual event in aid of the Royal Variety Charity and its care home for elderly entertainers, Brinsworth House, once a year thereafter. This tradition and fundraising event for the Royal Variety Charity, continues to the present day, with the Royal Variety Performance now attracting over 150 million worldwide television viewers, making it the longest running and most successful entertainment show in the world.

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