The 67th Eurovision Song Contest kicked off with a bang on Tuesday night in the UK with the first of two semi-finals. The city of Liverpool in northern England is playing host to the event this year, on behalf of last year’s winners Ukraine – whose culture was visible throughout proceedings, as it will be all week.
A moving interval dance paid tribute to the country who are unable to host this year due to war. The newly-crowned King and Queen made a surprise appearance – one of their first since their Coronation on Saturday – in the the opening sequence before the first semi-final began at the M&S Bank arena in Liverpool.
The royal couple featured in the opening credits, in a Welcome to Liverpool film. They had previously attended the M&S Bank Arena to officially open the stage for this year’s competition.The King and Queen make a cameo appearance in the first Semi-Final of the Eurovision Song Contest held in Liverpool.#Eurovision pic.twitter.com/RpjCopSIH2 10 countries qualified for the Grand Final on Saturday night, where they will join 10 more from the second semi-final on Thursday, along with Ukraine and ‘the big 5’ – Spain, Italy, France, Germany and UK.
15 countries participated on Tuesday evening, including this year’s favourite Sweden (Loreen singing Tattoo) and others expected to do well – Finland, Norway and Israel.
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