The Queen Consort has wished “good luck” to a young dancer whose dreams of becoming a ballet star went viral and will now be made into a Disney documentary.
Camilla met Anthony Madu when she visited the ballet school which offered him a scholarship after a 44-second video posted online in 2020 of him pirouetting in the rain was watched more than 16 million times.
The 13-year-old, from Nigeria, is now in his second year at Elmhurst Ballet School in Birmingham which is celebrating its centenary and has the Queen Consort as its patron.
Camilla visited the school to mark the milestone and meet the schoolboy, who has grown a few inches and now has more of an English accent since his story won the hearts of social media users.
When she asked Anthony if he had always loved dancing, he replied “Yes, since I was five years old.
Camilla replied: “It gets to grips with you, you can’t let it go – good luck.”
Disney announced in September that it would be making a documentary about the youngster whose family live on the edge of the Nigerian capital, Lagos, where he had little formal training before arriving in the UK but showed great talent.
Speaking after Camilla’s visit, Anthony said of Elmhurst: “My dancing’s going well, it’s really, really great, and I’m really enjoying it.”
He said he is adapting to life in the UK but is struggling a little with the weather.
“It’s still quite cold,” he said.
Talking about his journey, he added: “I just hope that younger dancers from anywhere around the world… I just hope to inspire them to pursue their dreams and never give up.”