When punk Toyah had tea with British royalty

Those who are a few years younger may know Toyah Willcox for the success that the Sunday Lunches have had since the pandemic in which, together with her husband, the leader of the King Crimson Robert Frippvery special covers of more or less famous songs are proposed.

Those who are a few years older may remember Toyah Willcox young punk with some success between the 70s and 80s. Precisely in those years and precisely because she was a punk, the now 66-year-old Toyah was invited to court to have tea with the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth, because they wanted to “see what a punk rocker looked like”.

The musician recounted the curious episode during an interview with the British newspaper Daily Telegraph: “One of the most bizarre moments of my life happened in the middle of the recording of “Anthem” (her 1981 album, ed.), I was summoned to the St James's Palace (a London royal residence, ed.) with Katharine Hamnett (provocative English fashion designer, ed.), who is an absolute rebel, having tea with the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret.

I was wearing a Willy Brown dress and my hair was bright orange with yellow streaks. We were told we had to say madame and curtsy, the Queen Mother came in and sat on a sofa with another guest while Margaret sat on my sofa with me and Katharine saying: 'Hello. we want to see that she looks like she's a punk rocker, which was just fabulous, especially because I realized later that Princess Margaret was probably the original punk rocker because she rebelled and rebelled and rebelled.”

Princess Margaret was “fascinated” by how punk was creating new opportunities for women. Toyah continued her conversation with the newspaper by explaining what happened: “We talked about the punk rock philosophy and how it was opening doors for women, and she was fascinated by it, I met her many times after that and she was a spectacular woman and very sharp.”

Among the other meetings that can be defined as surreal that Toyah had, there was also the one with the famous former First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos. “I was friends with a Kuwaiti princess who one day said to me: 'You can come here because someone wants to talk to you,' so I went to her house and suddenly I found myself sitting in front of Imelda Marcos. My first thought was: ' What do I say to a woman who has 2,000 pairs of shoes?' but then I found out he wanted me to introduce his beautiful daughter to other celebrities and the upper class. Obviously I was aware of his reputation, but I have to say he was respectful and kind, I knew it was one of those situations where you don't have to ask questions I think that I introduced her daughter, who was a delicate flower and was very educated, to Lady Rothermere, and took her to some parties.”