The Queen tells X Factor judge Gary Barlow to pack up quickly after Jubilee

The Queen tells X Factor judge Gary Barlow to pack up quickly after Jubilee

The X Factor judge has spent months organising the 60th anniversary spectacular.

It will feature stars including Elton John, Kylie Minogue and Stevie Wonder performing on a specially constructed stage at the front of Buckingham Palace.

Gary told how he went to the palace to brief Her Majesty on the concert â€" which will be shown live on BBC1 next month â€" but that her most pressing concern was how long it would take to dismantle the stage.

The Take That singer said: “Only a couple of weeks ago I got the job of presenting the plan of the concert to her.

“I learned everything about this gig, I know every act that’s on, I even know every band member in Madness. There’s not a question she can throw at me where I am going to falter.

“I went, ‘Your Majesty, this is what the concert is going to look like, it’s going to be incredible, this is where it’s going to be, in front of the palace’. She looked at me and went, ‘So, all that equipment, how long is it going to take to dismantle it?’

“At this point I’m guessing and I say, ‘Oh about six or seven hours’ so she went, ‘The concert’s going to finish at half ten at night which means you’ll be doing that all night while my family live at the front of the palace’.

“A little bead of sweat ran down and I was like, ‘So, moving on Your Majesty â€" this is the royal box, this is where you’ll be sitting’.

“She said, ‘How am I going to get there?’. It was something else I didn’t know the answer to.

“She is incredible for her age â€" very, very smart. She’s excited about the whole weekend, she really is.”

Speaking on tonight’s Graham Norton Show on BBC1, cheeky Gary speculated how the Queen would travel from the palace to the concert.

He said: “It’ll probably be a golf buggy, a nice one, the best golf buggy you can get.”

Gary also revealed how he couldn’t wait to return to The X Factor.

But he said he was sick of being the nasty judge â€" and would instead be Mr Nice Guy.

He said: “I’m a very serious person but I want to enjoy it a bit more this time around, especially the auditions side of it.

“I was always like, ‘I’m the serious music guy’ but actually 98 per cent of the acts are absolutely awful, so I want to enjoy them this time around.” The X Factor yesterday officially confirmed Dermot O’Leary would be fronting the new series â€" months after he started working on it.

Simon Cowell said: “Dermot has done a brilliant job for the past five years â€" he is Mr X Factor!”

Meanwhile, Prince Harry has made his recording debut after being recruited by Gary Barlow to play on his Jubilee single.

The Prince, a keen music fan, agreed while in Jamaica to bash a tambourine which the Take That star recorded to use in the song.

The track, called Sing, was written by Barlow and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and also features the chart-topping Military Wives. When it is released later this month it is expected to be the first chart single to feature a specially recorded member of the royals.

The Prince features alongside a number of notable names including celebrated reggae rhythm section Sly Robbie, plus guitarist Ernest Ranglin, famed for playing on the Dr No soundtrack as well as on timeless Sixties hit My Boy Lollipop.

Barlow, who took his laptop around the world to record various artists, said he had become fond of Harry after meeting him a few times. He said: “He’s fun and relaxed and he’s a really nice kid.”

But asked if the prince exhibited any musical talent, Barlow said simply: “No.”

He added: “He’s a great guy Harry â€" a lot of people I met in Australia, he was their favourite. They loved him, especially the older women. I think he’s one of the Queen’s favourites as well.” Barlow revealed that Prince Charles was the brains behind his globe-trotting Jubilee single.

He had been planning to put it together in the UK but the Prince of Wales advised him that the Queen would appreciate a single drawn from across the Commonwealth.

Charles’s idea led Barlow to travel to Australia, Kenya, Jamaica and the Solomon Islands in search of guest musicians, singers and inspiration.

The journey will feature in a BBC1 documentary Gary Barlow: On Her Majesty’s Service, to be screened in the coming weeks.

Gary said of the project: “It was one of the best things I have ever done, like nothing else I’ve ever tried before.”

TODAY is the last day to post entries for The Sun’s great royal portrait competition. There are two categories and two majestic prizes.

The first category is open to under-eights, the second to artists aged nine to 13, and both winning entries will be exhibited for a day in London’s National Portrait Gallery alongside some of the most famous and valuable portraits of the Queen.

For your chance to win, just create your own portrait of the Queen on one side of A4. One winner will be selected from each age group and each will receive a Nintendo 3DS and a download code for the Colors! 3D game on the console.

Five runners-up from the remaining best entries, regardless of age group, will also receive a Nintendo 3DS and Colors! 3D.

Get your parent/guardian to send your entry and age, plus their name, address and phone number, to: Jubilee Portrait Competition, The Sun, 3 Thomas More Square, London E98 1XY. Entries must be with us by May 19.

For full details click here.