Commuters at London Bridge underground station were stunned by an impromptu opera performance by a security guard in tribute of Queen Elizabeth II.
A video of the moment when Anna Lapwood, an organist and director of music at Cambridge University, was joined by security guard Marcella for a rendition of “Lascia Ch’io Pianga” has since gone viral on social media.
In a tweet, Ms Lapwood said: “Spontaneously stopped off at the London Bridge station organ to play a couple of pieces for the Queen. This lovely security guard, Marcella, asked if I could play Lascia ch’io pianga. Turns out she trained as a singer!”
Onlookers were left stunned by the performance of the song, which translates from Italian to “let me cry,” and was posted online on Sunday.
In the clip, security guard Marcella sings as Ms Lapwood plays the instrument which resides in the underground station. In an separate video, crowds gathered and gave a large round of applause for the musical duo.
In a separate tweet, Ms Lapwood wrote: “And yes - she got the audience and applause she deserved by the end!! We ended up doing a whole load of duets and it was pure joy”.
The video has garnered over 3.5 million views, 114,000 likes and 15,000 retweets as many applaud the moving performance.
One user wrote: “Very moving, thank you both Anna and Marcella!”
Another user added: “I’m not crying, you’re crying.”
Another said: “Queen would have appreciated it for sure.”
Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully on September 8 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland aged 96.
Her funeral is set to take place on Monday, 19 September.
