LONDON:

Britain’s Prince William posed for a photo with US music star Taylor Swift and two of his children, Charlotte and George, on the first night of Swift’s Eras tour in London on Friday.
A photo posted on Kensington Palace’s X social media feed with the caption “Thank you @taylorswift13 for a great evening!” showed William smiling as Swift took a selfie with him and the children. William celebrated his 42nd birthday on Friday.
Swift also posted a different photo of her with the royals and her partner Travis Kelce with the message: “Happy Bday M8! London shows are off to a splendid start”.
Ahead of the first of her eight shows at London’s Wembley Stadium, the city published a special version of its distinctive London Underground map to mark the occasion, and the “Changing of the Guard” ceremony at Buckingham Palace featured a military band rendition of one of her songs.
Swift’s Eras tour was welcomed by a sparkling London Tube map redesigned in the singer’s honour on Friday, as the British capital eyes a 300 million pound ($379 million) windfall.
Swift is due to perform eight shows at London’s Wembley stadium, with the first scheduled for Friday, attracting nearly 700,000 fans in total, the mayor’s office said in a statement. Aside from spending on tickets and travel, her fans, known as ‘Swifties,’ splash out on glittery outfits and accessories to depict different musical eras of the 34-year-old’s discography.
Swift’s billion-dollar tour has helped local economies since its US start last year, although economists are generally sceptical that concert tours or big sporting events give more than a small boost to a country’s economy. Transport for London published a special version of its distinctive London Underground map to mark the occasion.
“Taylor’s Version” of the map, a nod to her decision re-record some of her work after losing control of the master recordings, replaced names of train stops with her song titles, with Westminster renamed Gorgeous and Piccadilly Circus becoming Wildest Dreams.
Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below.