Royal watchers accuse Kate Middleton of 'faking' piano number for Eurovision

Royal watchers believe that Kate Middleton was not actually playing the piano during her surprise appearance during the Eurovision finals over the weekend.

The Princess of Wales made a cameo in the opening scene of the competition's grand finale where she played a few keys from Ukrainian group Kalush Orchestra's song "Stefania." According to Page Six, her performance was pre-recorded earlier this month in the Crimson Drawing Room at Windsor Castle.

However, not everyone is impressed with her performance and some even accused her of faking playing the piano. They took to Twitter to criticise her with one writing, "Lots of people angry in the music industry. One of my contacts asks "why she is constantly shoehorned into things she does not have the skills for. She should stick to doing angry-looking photos in posh carriages."

Another commented, "And even if she can play, why steal the limelight from competitors 🤷🏼‍♀️
Talk about attention seeking."

A third claimed the mum-of-three was just "acting" in front of viewers, writing, "I hv played for three years. I took lessons. Piano is not easy. I gave up halfway and took my time to self-learn. the way she placed her finger it's awkward and not sure if she knew wht treble clef & bass clef is. Sorry she is just acting. Hopefully, it lands her a job for the camera [sic]."

One more tweeted, "It was painful to watch. Cringe."

However, some defended Kate Middleton, saying she played the right notes but just was not in sync with the audio.

"I'm team H&M all the way but is it possible they just weren't matching up the sound and video? It appears to sway in and out," one wrote, adding that "there was no doubt she was hitting the keys. But, the keys she was hitting did not synch w/ the music playing."

Another tweeted, "She's played before a large crowd that was televised live before. They have interviewed her piano teacher. She can play the piano. For crying out loud - this is some petty ridiculousness."

Another defended the princess saying she has "played the piano in public before" and that "she plays very well," possibly referring to her duet with Tom Walker in 2021 on his song "For Those Who Can't Be Here."

Kate Middleton accompanied the singer for a Christmas 2021 performance at Westminster Abbey, which was also pre-recorded like her Eurovision piano cameo. In an interview, he shared, "We rehearsed the song like nine times and by the end of it she'd absolutely nailed it, and then she went away for a couple of days and practised it, and then we finally got to do the recording of it."

"I didn't even know she played the piano...I thought she absolutely smashed the performance; it's not easy to just jump behind a piano with a bunch of musicians you've never played with before and record live takes to camera, but she completely nailed it," Walker told ITV.

According to the publication, the Duchess of Cambridge earned her grade three piano and grade five theory. This would explain her skills with the instrument.

In her pre-recorded piano performance for Eurovision, Kate Middleton played alongside Kalush Orchestra, which was last year's winner. A behind-the-scenes video showed she enjoyed her brief appearance as she was seen beaming as she prepared to take centre stage. The video was posted on the Prince and Princess of Wales' Twitter page along with the message, "A pleasure to join Kalush Orchestra in a special performance of last year's winning entry. Enjoy the show, Liverpool." She reportedly played the opening montage of "Stefania" and her cameo appearance was viewed worldwide by an estimated audience of 160 million.