Silence and candlelight. A few seconds pass, then a note rises from a piano along the apse of Westminster Abbey. Tom Walker’s voice begins to tune For Those Who Can’t Be Here, that is, “For those who cannot be here.” Accompanying him, moving her hands over the black and white keys, is Kate Middleton: it is the first time that the Duchess of Cambridge has shown her skills as a musician in public. The performance is not live: on Thursday 23 December, the British singer-songwriter and Prince William’s wife recorded the video broadcast on TV on the evening of the eve. It is a tribute to the victims of the Coronavirus which, in the United Kingdom, are close to the figure of 150 thousand. The Daily Mirror described Middleton as “quite nervous” in the performance of the performance, since “he hadn’t played with another musician for a long time.” Indiscretion in a sense confirmed by sparring partner of the Duchess: «I think we were both really nervous and we were afraid that everything would not go according to plan, that one might disappoint the other. But she was absolutely fantastic, she had a laundry, ”Walker commented. “We rehearsed the song like nine times and then she absolutely got it right, so she left, she rehearsed at home for a couple of days and then we finally recorded it.” The singer wrote the song for “whoever, raising a glass at the table, remembers who is no longer among us”, concluding that the Duchess proved to be “a lovable, kind and big-hearted person”.
