King Charles III has told UK Eurovision participant Mae Muller that he will “push” her to enter and watch next month’s competition “with great interest”.

The King and Queen met the singer when they visited the venue in Liverpool and announced the setting of the event.

Camilla said “no pressure” to Muller, who replied: “This year feels like a good energy, no point.”

She added: “As long as I can stand up there and say it’s the best thing I’ve ever done, I’ll be satisfied.”

The venue for the first semi-final in less than two weeks, when the UK hosts the annual competition on behalf of last year’s winners, is Ukraine.

The final will take place a week after the coronation.

The King told Muller: “We will be very interested in watching, encourage you to continue.

The King and Queen Consort also met co-hosts Hannah Waddingham and Julia Sanina, commentators Rylan Clark and Scott Mills, and members of the production team.

And they pressed the button to officially light up the arena for the first time.

The venue has been equipped with more than 2,000 specialized lighting fixtures, with pink, blue and yellow tones to match this year’s Eurovision logo.

Cables for light, audio and video could be up to 8 miles long if deployed.

The semi-finals will take place on Tuesday 9 and Thursday 11 May, before the final on Saturday 13 May.

Around 6,000 fans will be in the arena for each show, with an estimated 160 million spectators watching the final around the world.

Tickets are already sold out, but there will be a Eurovision Village fan zone for the thousands of people who watched the event on the big screen and a two-week cultural festival in the city will also take place. parallel to the competition.

BBC Director General Tim Davie said: “It is an honor that the King and Queen consort have come here today to reveal the wonderful staging of our Eurovision Song Contest programme.

“This set will be the focal point of all celebrations and we can’t wait to see it light up Liverpool and TV screens around the world.”

“It’s been a fun creative challenge to come up with a design that’s big enough in the arena and big enough on camera,” he said.

“Creatively, my team and I had to think about how we could give the stage an identity that showcases Eurovision – one of the biggest music shows in the world.”

About half of the 37 participants, he added, will use the catwalk extending from the main stage during their performances.

As the host of this year’s broadcaster, most of the cost to run the three live shows goes to the BBC.

The total is expected to be between £8 million and £17 million, but the group has not released a budget for the event.

BBC, the participating UK broadcaster, does not make its contributions public.

However, officials said much of it would be spent on ensuring “the integration of Ukrainian culture”.

All construction, insights and analysis are explored each week on a BBC podcast called Eurovisioncast.