Jack Whitehall recalls awkward private gig for King Charles: “I bombed so hard”

Jack Whitehall has recalled how he once “bombed so hard” during a private gig for the then-Prince Charles.

The comedian was asked by James Corden on The Late Late Show whether he’d been invited to perform at King Charles III’s coronation on May 6, where he joked that he had been “NFI’d” (“Not Fucking Invited”) due to a past performance at a Christmas party in Kensington Palace.

“It was his Christmas party for all of his staff, he booked me to be the entertainment,” Whitehall said. “I went out and they were sat, him and Camilla, in the front row in thrones, like literally in thrones.

“No microphone so I was just there. I’m literally the court jester for half an hour. I did a load of jokes about Kate Middleton because she’d been at my school and I was referring to her as ‘the one that got away’ which he didn’t like at all. I literally bombed so hard.”

He continued: “Then afterwards I had to meet him and there’s all this regalia and I had to bow, and he goes, ‘Yes, well, I think next year we’ll probably try a magician.’ I got thrown under the bus by the king of England.”

Whitehall and Middleton both went to Marlborough College, a private school in Wiltshire.

Take That, Lionel Richie and Katy Perry are set to perform at the Coronation Concert on Sunday May 7, alongside opera singer Andrea Bocelli, Freya Ridings and Alexis Ffrench.

James Corden will present his last ever episode of The Late Late Show on April 27, after hosting the show for the past eight years.