King Charles III Coronation: Edinburgh musician to attend King Charles' Coronation at Westminster Abbey

Musician nearly had to miss the big day due to hosting an awards party in Edinburgh

An Edinburgh musician is one of only 2,000 members of the public who have been invited to The King's Coronation at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, May 6 – but she admitted she nearly had to give it a miss due to an Edinburgh awards ceremony close to her heart.

Kirsty Baird BEM, who released a successful charity single in 2020, is hosting her Sing in the City awards party at The Edinburgh Academy on Friday, and initially thought she would be unable to attend the Coronation as she is required to be in London early on Saturday morning.

She said: "There was absolutely no way that I wasn't going to attend the awards party, so postponing or cancelling the party was never going to be an option. That night is about my members, my team and everyone deserves a great night out after the last few years we have had."

Edinburgh musician Kirsty Baird, pictured receiving her BEM in 2021 at the City Chambers from then Lord Provost Frank Ross, will attend the Coronation of King Charles on Saturday.

However, Kirsty’s best friend Christine Rowley intervened and it was agreed there must be a way that Kirsty could attend both events. Having initially decided to drive down through the night, they have now arranged for Kirsty to travel down on the sleeper train from Edinburgh to London once the awards party has finished on Friday evening.

Kirsty was awarded her BEM in The New Years Honours list 2021 due to the work she did during lockdown with Sing in the City choir members – keeping everyone connected and engaged while supporting and improving mental health. As part of her band ‘Hanley and the Baird’, and along with input from her choir members, she released the single ‘Follow the Rainbows’ in April 2020, which charted in Scotland at number three and raised over £6000 for The Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH). On the back of this she also started her own community radio station, Chief Radio.

On receiving her invite to The Coronation, Kirsty said: "I was very surprised but very proud to be invited to such an occasion. It is not every day you are invited to be part of such a historic event and I am pleased to be attending on behalf of my Sing in the City members and the whole team who support me in everything we do alongside Chief Radio and Hanley and the Baird.”

Kirsty admitted her busy weekend doesn’t finish in London, as she has to return to Edinburgh for an even more important event. She said: "It's great that we have managed to arrange things so that I am able to attend both events. However, there is still one more hurdle to cross. It is not enough that I get to London on time on Saturday as, even more importantly, I need to get home again on Saturday to celebrate my own mum's birthday – the most important event of them all!"