Nick Cave defends decision to attend 'weird' coronation
Rocker Nick Cave has defended his decision to attend the coronation of King Charles - insisting he is not a royalist but couldn't pass up the chance to attend the 'weirdest' event 'of our age'
Nick Cave has defended his decision to attend the coronation of King Charles - calling it the "weirdest" event "of our age".
The 65-year-old rocker will be at Westminster Abbey on Saturday (06.05.24) to see the new monarch and his wife, Camilla Queen Consort crowned after being invited to join the ceremony as part of the Australian delegation - and Cave has now explained why he is going after being bombarded with letters from fans who asked him: "Why the f*** are you going to the King’s coronation?"
In response, Cave wrote in his Red Hand Files newsletter: "I’ll make this a quick one because I’ve got to work out what I am going to wear to the Coronation.
"I am not a monarchist, nor am I a royalist, nor am I an ardent republican for that matter; what I am also not is so spectacularly incurious about the world and the way it works, so ideologically captured, so damn grouchy, as to refuse an invitation to what will more than likely be the most important historical event in the UK of our age. Not just the most important, but the strangest, the weirdest."
Cave went on to reveal he met the late Queen Elizabeth at an even held at Buckingham Palace and found her to be "almost extraterrestrial" adding she was "the most charismatic woman I have ever met".
The musician told fans he cried while watching the Queen's funeral on TV and realised he has "an inexplicable emotional attachment to the royals".
He added: "The strangeness of them [the royal family], the deeply eccentric nature of the whole affair that so perfectly reflects the unique weirdness of Britain itself. I’m just drawn to that kind of thing – the bizarre, the uncanny, the stupefyingly spectacular, the awe-inspiring."
Cave insisted his younger self probably wouldn't have accepted the invitation, but it doesn't matter. He concluded: "With all that in mind, I am looking forward to going the Coronation. I think I’ll wear a suit."
