Girl, six, takes up grandfather’s place at Coronation church

Bailey Jones, six, was invited to represent her grandfather, York musical theatre director Bev Jones, a Queen’s Chorister in 1953, who is too unwell to go.

His wife Lesley said Mr Jones, who is in a care home in Knaresborough, “would have been so proud to attend”.

He was eight when he became a chorister at York Minster in 1948 and his granddaughter who attends the same school, hopes to become a chorister next year.

Mrs Jones said: “The Palace and the Abbey have agreed to bend the rules and will allow Bev’s place to be taken by young Bailey, especially as she attends the very school where he began his illustrious musical career, York Minster, and she also hopes to become a chorister herself next year.

“She took to the musical stage for the first time this year at a charity fund-raising show, in a tribute to Bev, when she sang Castle on a Cloud from Les Miserables, and brought the house down. We raised nearly £4,000 on the day.

“What a memory for a six-year-old girl.”

The Queen will return to the Abbey tomorrow to mark the 60th anniversary since her Coronation with a service for 2,000 guests.

Joined by the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, the monarch will listen to an address by the Archbishop of Canterbury and a reading by Prime Minister David Cameron.