The King and Queen visit Bradford

Upon arrival at Bradford Live, The King and Queen were welcomed by a performance given by eight musicians from Paraorchestra, an integrated ensemble comprising professional disabled and non-disabled musicians.

Bradford Live is a live entertainment venue, together with event spaces, located in the heart of Bradford city centre. The former Odeon Cinema was originally built in 1930s. Following its closure in 2000, the art deco building has now been fully restored with a £50 million investment, bringing it back to its former glory as a live music venue and entertainment hub for the city.

Inside the venue, Their Majesties observed a rehearsal of Sing, Dance, Leap – an educational initiative delivered in schools across the city by the Royal Ballet and Opera, in partnership with Northern Ballet and Opera North.

Their Majesties attended a reception with artists, contributors to the Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture programme, and invited guests. His Majesty also met young people from Bradford, who have been supported by The King’s Trust, as well as Bradford-born magician and Trust alumnus Steven Frayne, formerly known as Dynamo. The King’s Trust supports thousands of young people across Yorkshire each year.

Bradford was selected as the UK City of Culture in May 2022, following a competitive process involving over 20 bids. The year-long programme, taking place across 141 square miles of the Bradford District, showcases the very best of the region’s music, arts and heritage. Inspired by the area’s rich cultural landscape – from the historic city centre to the surrounding countryside – Bradford 2025 places particular focus on the district’s people, from local artists to the diverse communities who call it home.

The King later visited Impact Hub Yorkshire, which provides support to businesses finding sustainable solutions to social challenges.

Joining a reception of organisations supported by the Impact Hub, His Majesty heard about the role it has played in sustainably growing local enterprises and supporting entrepreneurs from diverse communities in the region.

Meanwhile, The Queen, as Patron of the National Literacy Trust (NLT), joined an event celebrating the work of the NLT in Bradford, where she met volunteer Literacy Champions before joining a poetry performance by local schoolchildren.

Her Majesty hopped aboard the Bradford Stories Bus, an American school bus converted into a travelling literacy event space to inspire children to read and write for pleasure. 

The Queen later joined schoolchildren from across Bradford, who were taking part in a poetry session led by the Bradford Literacy Trust, and two local poets for the ‘Share Your Story’ campaign, part of Bradford 2025. The project gathers stories from children and families which will be published to form a virtual ‘story cloud’ and collated to create the soundscape poem to be performed during the engagement.

The NLT has been working in Bradford since 2014 to inspire a lifelong love of reading, writing and poetry in children across the city. To date, the Trust has worked with over 50,000 children, families and teachers and given out over 150,000 books to children in Bradford.

The Queen later travelled to the village of Thornton to officially open the Brontë Birthplace. The terraced house in Market Street, built at the turn of the 19th century, was the first parsonage of Patrick and Maria Brontë. 

Her Majesty toured the building and met committee members, volunteers and local schoolchildren who have participated in the Be More Brontë project – an educational initiative designed to foster a love of literature and inspire young people to pursue their ambitions. 

Pupils from St Oswald CE Primary School shared postcards detailing their hopes for the future, which will be kept at the house.

At Cartwright Hall, an art gallery and community cultural space in Bradford’s Lister Park, The Kin met local people involved in grassroots cultural activities and community groups in the city.

His Majesty toured the David Hockney gallery, dedicated to the life and career of the Bradford-born artist. The collection includes a unique selection of Hockney’s work from the 1950s and reproductions of personal photos, on display in a public gallery for the first time.

His Majesty also watched a performance by the Bantam of the Opera choir, a group of local Bradford City Football Club fans taught to sing opera by BBC Radio Leeds during Bradford’s City of Culture year.