Geri Halliwell-Horner greeted the King with a kiss on the cheek at the Commonwealth Day service on Monday, reviving a gesture she first made famous in 1997. The former Spice Girl was speaking at the annual Westminster Abbey service, where she delivered a reflection on female empowerment and described the Commonwealth as a “family of equals”.
The service, attended by Queen Camilla, the Prince and Princess of Wales, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and an 1,800-strong congregation, heard Halliwell-Horner highlight that International Women’s Day had fallen on Sunday. “As a young girl, it was creativity and education that gave me courage and confidence,” she said. “When we educate a girl we’re not ticking a box, we’re investing in leadership, in stability, in possibility.”
After her speech, Halliwell-Horner also embraced Queen Camilla as the royal couple met performers. She said of the Commonwealth: “It reminds us that standing together is not a weakness, it’s a strength. It is how we turn our hope into action.” The singer, an ambassador for the Royal Commonwealth Society and the King’s Trust, previously left red lipstick on the then Prince of Wales’s cheek at a Prince’s Trust event in 1997.
Outside the abbey, demonstrators from anti-monarchy group Republic held placards reading “What did you know?” in reference to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal involving the King’s brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Around 50 activists from the Peter Tatchell Foundation and partner groups also gathered to draw attention to nearly 30 Commonwealth countries that still criminalise same-sex relationships.
The service was not broadcast by the BBC this year, with a spokesperson citing “the difficult choices we have to make in light of our funding challenges”. Among those in the congregation were outgoing BBC director general Tim Davie, singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading, broadcaster Gyles Brandreth, children’s author Dame Jacqueline Wilson, Prince Albert of Monaco and Halliwell-Horner’s husband Christian Horner. Former Strictly Come Dancing judge Oti Mabuse also delivered a reflection, urging attendees to consider whether they are “turning our diversity into strength” and “turning hope into action”.
