The King and Queen Consort have unveiled the ‘spectacular’ stage and set that will be used for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool for the first time.
King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla both attended Liverpool Arena - which will host the contest’s semi-finals and grand final on May 13 - today (April 26) to get a first look at how the venue will look on the night.
They were greeted by staff, creatives and apprentices working to get the Arena ready for the grand event before lighting and animating the venue with the set designer and sound and lighting directors.
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The royal party also spoke with some of the contest’s presenters, including actress Hannah Waddingham, Rylan and Scott Mills, alongside music director of Eurovision 2023 Kojo Samuel and singer Mae Muller, who will be representing the UK at this year’s event.
Blue Peter presenters Abby Cook, Joel Mawhinney and Mwaksy Mudenda also presented their Majesties with a Gold Blue Peter badge each – the programme’s highest award only given out to recognise exceptional outstanding achievements.
Tim Davie, BBC Director-General, says: “It is an honour that His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen Consort have come here today to reveal the fantastic staging for our Eurovision Song Contest programming.
“This set will be the focal point for all of the celebrations and we cannot wait to see it lighting up Liverpool and TV screens across the world.”
Designed by Julio Himede, the impressive stage has been designed around the theme of ‘togetherness, celebration and community’. Across more than 450 square metres of staging, the set features another 220 square metres of independently moving and turning video screens, as well as over 700 video floor tiles and more than 1500 metres of LED lights.
Martin Green CBE, Managing Director of Eurovision, says: “We are thrilled His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen Consort have unveiled this landmark moment for 2023 Eurovision.
“It has been a fantastic collaboration between all of our partners and the BBC to get to this point and now the stage is officially set to capture everyone’s imaginations and bring together audiences from across the world.”
Following their visit, Her Majesty The Queen Consort dropped into The Big Eurovision Read pop-up reading den outside Liverpool Central Library, which has been created to celebrate music and reading.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer with the semi-finals taking place on May 9 and 11, before the Grand Final on May 13.
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