Denise Welch lost her trademark crop of blonde hair for the evening as she played the late Queen Elizabeth II in a special performance at London’s Hammersmith Apollo. Stunned fans applauded her major transformation for the role in Diana: The Musical, as she belted out the iconic line: “Don’t blame her, Charles, tame her, Charles, she’s embarrassing the throne!”
The phrase comes from Pretty, Pretty Girl – just one of numerous 80s-inspired tunes that entertained viewers on the night, featuring music from Bon Jovi keyboard player David Bryan. The excited 65-year-old took to Instagram to share an image of herself as the Queen with her 410,000 followers – and the support was phenomenal.
Former Eternal singer Kelle Bryan, who starred alongside Denise in Hollyoaks, sent her a fire emoji and declared: “You got this Denz!” Coronation Street’s Sally Dynevor – who plays Sally Webster on the ITV soap – wished her luck and described her sensational look as “fantastic”.
Meanwhile, Christine Lampard, Lizzie Cundy and Frankie Bridge were among other celebrities to show their support. “You look wonderful your majesty,” one fan exclaimed, while another chimed in: “A queen in her truest form.”
Meanwhile, Denise’s maternal streak towards Princess Diana isn’t just part of the storyline, as she had once fiercely defended the royal from Prince Andrew in real life. She previously told the story of how she’d attended an event alongside him when she was a patron for a charity, and that she’d been appalled by the way he’d allegedly spoken of the late Princess of Wales.
READ MORE: Stacey Solomon breaks silence on ‘baby number six’ after Joe’s ‘suspicious’ move[LATEST]
“He really, really upset me once in the way that he spoke about his late sister-in-law Diana with such disdain,” she explained on an episode of Loose Women.
“It was in front of a group of people such as me who he didn’t know from a bar of soap. I was horrified by it because it wasn’t really long after [her death.]”
She added that she’d “never liked him” and that as someone who’d always admired and “loved Diana from afar”, she thought Prince Andrew’s alleged comments were out of line.
Denise claimed on another occasion that everyone attending the charity dinner had been briefed not to discuss Diana – but that Andrew seemed keen to broach the topic anyway.
Don’t miss…
Inside Gary Lineker’s love life from 20-year age gap to ‘stress’ in marriage[INSIGHT]
Danielle Harold sparks fears from I’m A Celebrity star after ‘two-faced’ claims[DEBATE]
Nella Rose’s ‘disgusting’ treatment on I’m A Celeb slammed by Loose Women star[LATEST]
- Support fearless journalism
- Read The Daily Express online, advert free
- Get super-fast page loading
Branding him “disrespectful”, she also claimed that when he got up to leave, he “put his hand on my then husband’s shoulder and said ‘Rather you than me!'”
The mood was lighter at last night’s show, which saw singer Nathan Hunter Pope tag her on Instagram afterwards, celebrating that he had “such talented friends” as co-stars.
Not one, but two, Princess Dianas had graced the stage alongside Denise: Kerry Ellis from Wicked, and Maiya Quansah-Breed, an original cast member of Six.
Source: Read Full Article