Basement Jaxx’s Felix Buxton has revealed he once tackled a man in a gorilla suit during a live set, only for the man to reveal himself as Prince Harry.
The electronic duo, made up of Felix, 52, and fellow beatmaker Simon Ratcliffe, 53, achieved 18 top 40 singles in the UK between 1997 and 2009.
One of their biggest hits, Where’s Your Head At?, reached the UK top 10 in 2001, and featured monkeys and other humanoid apes in its music video.
As a tribute to the video, dancers would wear gorilla outfits during the duo’s performances of the song in live sets, performing loosely choreographed routines.
At a 2009 Basement Jaxx concert in London, the Romeo hitmakers bumped into Prince Harry and asked if he wanted to take part in their show.
‘We met Harry before the show,’ Felix told ABC Radio. ‘We said: “If you want to be a gorilla on stage, help yourself”.’ However, things didn’t quite go to plan.
The royal, eager to join in, happily wore the gorilla costume and began to dance so enthusiastically that he caught Felix’s attention in the middle of the song.
Felix explained: ‘Often we say, can you try and get into the part of being a gorilla? Don’t [overdo it], don’t try act like you’re on a stag do.’
However, Felix, who was lost in the moment, had forgotten about inviting the prince on stage to perform, and subsequently tackled the gorilla to the floor.
He said: ‘I went over and rugby tackled him down. And after doing that, I looked out to side-stage and saw [security] with a hand on an earpiece.
‘I thought, “Oh god, I forgot! Maybe that’s him?” It looked like it was serious on a presidential level.’
After the incident, the duo managed to find Harry and were able to apologise, but the memory of it still makes Felix cringe to this day.
‘I quite pathetically did a curtsy to apologise for knocking him over. Some kind of repressed colonial indoctrination came out of me in the moment.’
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Buckingham Palace staff still don’t know if Harry and his wife Meghan Markle will be attending Prince Charles’ coronation.
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