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Our music correspondent Billy Sloan spoke to Gloria Estefan shortly before she took to the stage for the Royal Variety Performance.
She said: "I feel very calm, it's been quite a few years that I've been doing this and I find that the best way is just to relax and do what I do and not get too nervous because it affects your performance. It's much more relaxed for me now."
Billy asked her as a Latin American if it is a big thrill for her to meet Her Majesty?
She said: "Of course, it's a big honour and we were thrilled to have done the Variety Performance years ago when Princess Diana was still alive. We met Prince Charles as well and we got to exchange some words about our children because one of her boys had been injured that day and I was travelling with my son too. It was a beautiful experience and really, it was an honour to meet the Queen, it's up there with the big ones in life experiences."
Asked if she could put the fact that the Queen would be sitting up in the royal box, she said: "Not really because there's beautiful flowers adorning the box. Most definitely she is the reason that we're here performing. I'll enjoy the fact that I'm performing for the Queen and that very few people get to do that especially in my business. It's a wonderful thing."
Asked about the time she was out of the limelight recently and claims it was because she was unwell, she said: "I'm very well. I wasn't unwell. I was dedicating myself to taking my daughter to school and picking her up every day, having a normal life. Because for many years it was touring, for 15 years straight we didn't stop. I know how quickly time goes, I already have a big guy, he's an adult already. She was starting school and I knew that if I didn't let her have those relationships with friends early on it's difficult to come in out of the cold in fourth grade and make friends." |