Cellist who performed at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding calls for flag-waving anthem Rule, Britannia! to be dropped from Last Night Of The Proms

The celebrated black cellist who performed at Prince Harry‘s wedding to Meghan Markle is calling for flag-waving anthem Rule, Britannia! to be dropped from the Last Night Of The Proms.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason, 24, tells today’s Desert Island Discs that when he performed at last year’s Last Night he left early to avoid hearing the song.

The long tradition of a sing-along rendition of Rule, Britannia! is a highlight of the annual Royal Albert Hall concert. 

But there have been calls to ban it as some see it as too celebratory of Britain’s imperial past and its role in the slave trade.

The song, which originates from James Thomson’s 1740 poem Rule, Britannia and is set to music by Thomas Arne, contains the line: ‘Britons never will be slaves’.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason, 24, tells today’s Desert Island Discs that when he performed at last year’s Last Night he left early to avoid hearing Rule, Britannia! being played

The celebrated black cellist performed at Prince Harry ‘s wedding to Meghan Markle

The audience join in singing ‘Rule Britannia’ at the last night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall on September 11, 2010

Kanneh-Mason tells Desert Island Discs: ‘I don’t think it should be included and I didn’t stay for that. That’s just my opinion. I think maybe some people don’t realise how uncomfortable a song like that can make a lot of people feel.

‘The wealth of folk music from this country is astonishing. I think that would be a wonderful thing to take its place.’

The BBC was branded woke in 2020 when it announced that only instrumental versions of Rule, Britannia! and Land Of Hope And Glory would be performed at that year’s event. 

It later backed down in the face of a public backlash.

l Desert Island Discs is on BBC Radio 4 today at 11.15am and is available via BBC Sounds