A covert recording of a service celebrating the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, made secretly at the request of the Queen Mother as a surprise, is to be heard for the first time after the man who embedded with a church choir to make it salvaged his "lost" tapes.

David Hutchinson was working at a shop near to Windsor Castle when he received a mystery phone call from the Queen Mother' office, tasking him with making the recording.

On instructions to keep it a surprise for the Queen, the then-29-year-old hid himself away in the church vestry with the choir, using a wireless tape recorder to capture the sounds.

The service celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the Queen's Accession to the throne, held on February 6, 1977, at the Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor Great Park.

The Queen Mother presented the recording as a gift for the Royal Family, their friends and close staff in the congregation, but the master tapes were thought too damaged by water to survive.

Thanks to recent technological developments and with permission from the palace, Mr Hutchinson has now been able to produce the first publicly-available recording of the service in honour of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

Read more on this story: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2021/11/13/secret-recording-queens-silver-jubilee-surfaces-via-man-hid

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