Boys from Belfast school with its own flute band 'were beside themselves with excitement' after shock revelation they would be performing for the King
Pupils at a north Belfast school got a shock this week when they realised that they were playing for the King and Queen.
Marcus McCullough, a music teacher at the Boys’ Model School in north Belfast, said that nine pupils ranging from 14 to 17 were involved in a flute band performance for the royal couple on Tuesday at the Titanic Slipways in east Belfast.
The school’s cohort is largely working-class Protestant, and as well as being part of the Flutes and Drums of the Boys’ Model during school time, the boys involved are also part of flute bands outside of school too (as is Mr McCullough, 24, the secretary of the Imperial Guards in east Belfast).
Now, after the pupils’ brush with royalty, he expects others to be inspired to join the band too.
“The boys were just absolutely buzzing – they had no idea who they were going to perform for,” he said.
"They were just kind of told it was ‘a very important guest’.
"So there was an element of surprise there for them.
"I think by the time we got through the security and they saw the set-up and what was going on on the day, they sort of made up their minds on who they thought it was going to be.
"But I don’t think – even if they had have known – that anything would have prepared them for the moment the King and Queen got out of the car and headed over towards us.
"The boys were just absolutely beside themselves with excitement.
"I think it was one of those things that was so significant for the boys and such a huge thing for them to be part of, that even now in the aftermath of it I don’t think that they have taken in how significant it was and how much of an amazing job they have done.
"Even today, a couple of days later, they’re absolutely buzzing about it.
"They keep saying to me: ‘sir, I cannot believe we met the King’.
"They’re very grateful to have the chance to do it.”
Darren Leighton, 35, is chairman of the Belfast Bands Forum, which takes in 22 bands across the city and launched in 2025, with one of its aims being to combat negative stereotypes about the loyalist bands scene.
It organised the bandsmen’s performance for the King and Queen.
Mr Leighton said there were around 15 flute players and seven drummers in all.
As well as The Flutes and Drums of Belfast Boys' Model School, other bandsmen came from east Belfast outfits The Loyal and the Imperial Guards, plus the South Belfast Young Conquerors (Mr Leighton’s own band), as well as Pride of the Hill from Carnmoney, Newtownabbey, and the Shankill Road Defenders.
They played Tell Me Ma (twice), Dawn of the Day, and The Leaving of Liverpool, in collaboration with traditional Irish musicians.
“The King made a point of coming and actually talking to the members that made up the collaboration,” he said.
"A few of us got a handshake and got talking to him.”
He added that the King was “inquisitive” about their work, and their upcoming participation in the Fleadh in August at the Titanic Slipways, and said “how great it was to see young musicians”.
"It was very much a positive engagement, especially for the younger ones in the forum,” he added.
"That was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”