King Charles praises Regina musician's coronation song
CBC
Jeffery Straker has had many career highlights, but a recent thank you from King Charles may be at the top of his list.
Straker, a Saskatchewan singer-songwriter, was in the midst of a three-week tour of the United Kingdom earlier this month when he received an email from Saskatchewan's Lt.-Gov. Russel Mirasty.
Mirasty informed Straker that his most recent album, Great Big Sky, had made its way to Buckingham Palace and King Charles had given it a listen.
"It kind of stopped me in my tracks. I sort of knew a CD had made its way, but I didn't know where it had gone," Straker told the Morning Edition's Stefani Langenegger.
WATCH | Regina musician who wrote song for King Charles is moved by his reaction:
One song in particular, Better Than What We Found, struck a chord with King Charles.
"I really wrote it for him. It was a song for him and that's what was the most staggering about it, that he actually heard it," Straker said.
"I was moved by it. It was really something."
Straker wrote Better Than What We Found after being asked to perform at coronation celebrations on May 13, 2023, at Government House in Regina.
"It's a hard task to write a song to celebrate the start of something, 'cause you can't go through the list of things that have been accomplished," Straker said.
He eventually decided on a song that encourages all people to do their best and leave the world better than they'd found it.
"When it was done, the lieutenant-governor did a presentation and he sort of leaned in and said, 'I'm going to Buckingham Palace next week, I'm going to tell the King about this song. I really like it.'"
Mirasty wrote a letter to the King this August explaining the context behind the song and enclosed a copy of the album, according to Caroline Speirs, Mirasty's executive director and private secretary.
Ralph Goodale, the high commissioner for Canada in the United Kingdom, was visiting Saskatchewan and planning a trip to London that fall. He promised to hand deliver the letter and album to Buckingham Palace.
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