Memories will come flooding back for Katherine Jenkins when she takes to the stage at Hampton Court Palace Festival in June – the last time she was at the palace was her wedding day.

The Welsh classical music star married film actor-director Andrew Levitas at Henry VIII’s former home in September 2014 and will be returning for the first time.

She told us: “I haven’t been back since so it is going to be very special.

“I didn’t search it out [as a wedding venue] for that reason but I am a Tudor geek. If I was going to go on Mastermind, the Tudor period would probably be my specialist subject. So I love it anyway and I’ve had some really memorable concerts there.

“Then I heard when we were looking for venues that they had just got their licence to hold weddings within the palace rather than the grounds where they did it previously.

“We were the first to be allowed to be married inside the actual apartments. I think it was just luck really.

“It was amazing. We feel so incredibly lucky.

“All our American guests that came over from Andy’s side thought they were in some kind of film or fairytale. They had never seen anything like it.”

As if those memories don’t make the June 23 show sufficiently special, Katherine’s performance will be celebrating the Queen’s 90th birthday.

The mezzo-soprano was the first act announced for the official televised birthday concert at Windsor Castle in May and wants to keep the feel-good patriotism going throughout the summer, just like in 2012.

She said: “There will be that air of celebration in the summer so we thought we would do a series of concerts that are everybody’s chance to get involved.

“I’ll perform the kind of music that fits the theme, so Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory and folk songs from around the UK – all big patriotic songs.

“It’s people’s chance to come along to iconic British venues and fly the flag and sing along and help wish Happy Birthday to Her Majesty.”

Katherine is one of those rare classical singers to have a mainstream following – having sold more than four million records – and she said the atmosphere at her concerts was one that welcomed all fans.

She said: “I am very conscious of the fact that classical music can be something people have enjoyed all their life or it can be something that is very new to somebody, so I always try to make it very accessible.

“My shows are always a wide range of opera arias through to classical versions of pop songs or songs from shows. It is a little bit of everything in terms of the music.”

Singing for the Queen (again) is the latest in an already lengthy list of highlights which includes singing to royalty, presidents, the Pope and at major sporting events around the world. And she is still only 35.

She admitted she still finds her success a shock.

She said: “It’s really hard to even think about all of the things that have happened in the last ten or eleven years. I never, ever thought that any of this would happen. I really imagined I would be working in an opera chorus, more in the background.”

And yet, despite performing to some of the world’s most exclusive VIPs, Katherine’s most proud professional moments have come in the least glamorous setting.

She said: “Probably one of the most unexpected things but that I’m most proud of would be going out to places like Iraq and Afghanistan to do shows for the troops.

“It is just such an incredible experience, you meet the most amazing people.

“They are just really emotional concerts because you are literally in the middle of a warzone that you are very much aware of.

“I remember being in Iraq doing a show in an aircraft hangar. There was a full set of squaddies sat on the floor and in the background I could just see a constant stream of aircraft landing and taking off.

“It was Christmas Eve and they were all away from their families and it was just one of those lump-in-the-throat moments.”

Katherine Jenkins plays Hampton Court Palace Festival on June 23. Go to hamptoncourtpalacefestival.com

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