Photos: SIX Queens Celebrate Six Years With A Royal Afternoon Tea At The Rubens At The Palace

The award-winning global smash hit SIX, alongside members of the current company of West End Queens, kick started the show’s West End Sixth Birthday celebrations with a delicious Royal Afternoon Tea at The Rubens at the Palace on 6 November, in the shadow of Buckingham Palace.  Check out photos from the afternoon.

The Queens and assembled guests enjoyed a selection of the exquisite patisserie on offer as part of the Royal Afternoon Tea, including Fig and Hazelnut Layer Cake, Bergamot and Earl Grey Tart, Chocolate Orange Choux, The Crown (blackberry and vanilla sponge), and cucumber, chicken and smoked salmon sandwiches, created by chef Sarah Houghting - a pastry chef of distinction who has showcased her skills on Bake Off: The Professionals on Channel 4. 

The Queens and guests then toasted the show with champagne and a specially created birthday cake served in true Royal fashion by the team at The Rubens at the Palace.

Six started its West End journey at the Arts Theatre in the autumn of 2018. This event is the first in a series of birthday celebrations in the next year, with further details to be announced. 

Producers Andy and Wendy Barnes said, “We are so unbelievably proud of this show and the joy it has spread across the world over the past six years. It was wonderful to celebrate this with our current West End company and to raise a glass to everyone who has played a part in helping us reach this significant milestone in the show’s history. Many thanks to Sarah and her whole team at The Rubens at the Palace for all the delicious treats, and for hosting us in their beautiful venue. Here’s to the next SIX years, and beyond!”

Think you know the six Wives of Henry VIII? Think again…

Prepare to lose your head and experience the Tudor Wives’ lives as they turn back the clock and take to the stage to reclaim their crowns and retell their stories of love, loss and the infamous ex they all have in common.

Join Aragon, Boleyn, Seymour, Cleves, Howard and Parr, backed by their fierce on-stage band, the Ladies in Waiting, and Get Down to a royal retelling of the sassiest story in British Her-story.

The current company includes Nikki Bentley as Catherine of Aragon, Thao Therese Nguyen as Anne Boleyn, Caitlin Tipping as Jane Seymour, Reca Oakley as Anna of Cleves, Inez Budd as Katherine Howard, Janiq Charles as Catherine Parr, Gabriella Stylianou as Alternate Catherine of Aragon & Jane Seymour/Dance Captain, Naomi Alade as Alternate Anne Boleyn & Anna of Cleves, Hannah Lowther as Alternate Katherine Howard & Catherine Parr, Meg Dixon-Brasil as Super Swing, and Ellie Jane Grant as Super Swing.

The band features Ladies in Waiting Carol Arnopp as Musical Director/Keys, Alice Angliss on Drums, Emma Jemima on Guitar, Kelly Morris on Bass, and Sinéad Rodger as Assistant Musical Director.

SIX is written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, with direction by Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage. Choreography is by Carrie-Anne Ingrouille, with set design by Emma Bailey, costume design by Gabriella Slade, lighting design by Tim Deiling, sound design by Paul Gatehouse, musical orchestration by Tom Curran, and musical supervision by Joe Beighton. 

Winner of over 35 international awards, including two 2022 Tony Awards, three WhatsOnStage awards, and nominated for five Oliviers, SIX can also be seen live on stage worldwide: as well as London’s West End, SIX continues to tour the UK (with new 2025 dates just announced), and throughout Europe. An Australian tour launched in August 2024, with an engagement in Manila just opened, and in Singapore opening in November 2024.  SIX is currently playing at Broadway’s Lena Horne Theatre, the tour continues to play cities throughout the US. 

Earlier this year, the show both achieved 1.5million followers globally – across YouTube, Instagram, X, TikTok and Facebook in the UK, US, Australia, Korea and beyond – and hit another milestone achievement, with SIX the Musical (UK Studio Cast Recording) and the Grammy Award®-nominated SIX: LIVE ON OPENING NIGHT (the first Original Broadway Cast Recording ever recorded live on opening night) streamed over one billion times.

Tickets to all international productions of SIX are available via sixthemusical.com

Photo Credit: Craig Sugden