The Antrim girl who sang for the Queen

SINGING in St Paul’s Cathedral for Her Majesty the Queen at her Diamond Jubilee Service was a dream come true for the-then 11–year–old Victoria McClements.

Victoria, a former pupil at Antrim Primary School, was one of only two young people selected from Northern Ireland to join the Diamond Choir which performed in London as part of the jubilee celebrations back in 2012.

And Victoria was close enough to see that Prince William was visibly moved by the words of the song.

“I think Prince William started to cry at the end because he had a tissue out,” she said.

When Victoria saw places in the choir advertised, she had to submit 50 words online explaining why she would like to sing in St Paul’s.

She wrote: “My passion is singing and the most important person in the world is the Queen, combine the two and my dream comes true – to sing to the Queen. It would be a privilege to sing in St Paul’s Cathedral with other people my own age in the special Diamond Choir.”

From this initial application, 400 children aged 10–13 were selected for audition.

For Victoria that meant a trip to St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, to sing in front of local judges, David Stevens, Master of Choristers at St Anne’s, and Cathedral organist Ian Barber.

In common with all the other children being auditioned, Victoria had to sing ‘Be Thou My Vision’ and ‘The Londonderry Air.’ She was coached by Joy Moore, one her teachers at school.

“I knew the Londonderry Air because I play it on the violin, but it was in a different key, D Flat, which was quite difficult to learn,” Victoria said.

Ten days later she received a letter saying she had been successful.

“I was really excited because I did not really think I was going to get to go,” Victoria added.

All members of the choir had to learn the new anthem, and Victoria was assisted by school choirmaster Stephanie Reid. She did not meet the rest of the 40–strong choir until the Sunday before the service, when the young people from all parts of the UK got together at St Paul’s Cathedral School. The following day was spent in rehearsals in St Paul’s itself, in preparation for the big day.

“It was really exciting. I was a bit nervous because from where we were sitting I could see all the Royal family and the Queen, and when we were singing she was really staring at us,” said Victoria.

Victoria has an Order of Service, a copy of the ‘The Call of Wisdom’ anthem score and a Diamond Jubilee Choir tie among her souvenirs of the day.

Victoria, now 21, fulfilled that early promise and is now a well known singing star of stage and screen and is part of Bello Duo with partner Conor Taggart.