Prince William at the Buckingham Palace rock concert

Prince William appeared to enjoy the rock concert in the back garden of Buckingham Palace - although some of the music was a little loud. 2 million people applied for the free tickets given away by the Queen. But only a lucky 12,000 were awarded tickets in the ballot earlier in the year. An estimated million people listened to the music in the Mall or near to the palace. The party held on 3rd June 2002 celebrated the completion of Queen Elizabeth's 50 years on the British throne.

There was no disguising the enthusiasm of Prince William and Prince Harry when the girl band Atomic Kitten, who sang Dancing in the Street, took to the stage.

Andrea Corr provided the vocals with Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys in God Only Knows. The music of The Beatles figured prominently in the concert, which also featured Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Queen, Cliff Richard, Shirley Bassey, Ricky Martin, Mis-teeq, Phil Collins, Blue, Emma Bunton, Tom Jones, S Club 7, Aretha Franklin, Annie Lennox, Joe Cocker, Will Young, Steve Winwood, Rod Stewart and The Corrs. The concert began when Brian May of Queen took his electric guitar onto the roof of Buckingham Palace and played the opening bars of God Save the Queen.

The audience in the manicured gardens rose to their feet in unison. Outside the palace the ground shook as the crowd stamped their feet and sang along to Queen’s We Will Rock You. Halfway through both screens outside the palace lost their pictures but the hiccup did not subdue the crowd.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, not noted for their love of pop music, waited in the relative calm of the palace for the first part of the concert. And when they arrived near the end of the concert, the Queen was reported to be wearing earplugs.

Paul McCartney told the crowd: "I said to Her Majesty: 'Are we going to do this again next year?' and she said: 'Not on my lawn'. "