Country singer Nathan Carter has revealed that his grandmother was a princess from Yemen who was shunned by her family after she ran away with Nathan’s grandfather.
Speaking to Ryan Tubridy on Friday night’s Late Late Show, the Liverpudlian singer said, "My dad’s mum and dad passed away about ten years ago but their story is pretty unusual in the fact that my dad’s mother was from Yemen in the Far East. Her family were royalty back in the day so she was actually a princess.
.@IAmNathanCarter comes from Yemeni royalty! Tune in to see Nathan perform shortly #latelate pic.twitter.com/lP12N0nlGU
— The Late Late Show (@RTELateLateShow) September 28, 2018
"She fell in love with my granddad who was a builder working for her dad on their mansion. She fell in love and ran away and the family disowned her. She left all the money and ran away with my granddad, who was John Carter and he was a builder from Liverpool.
"Quite romantic. She said to hell with the money, I’m gonna follow my heart. So I have Yemeni/Irish blood."
Carter also spoke about appearing on Top of The Pops as part of a choir singing backing to Liverpool band The Farm on the re-release of their hit Altogether Now in 2003. "I was head chorister in my school choir and we toured around the cathedrals in the UK and we sang for Pope John Paul II.
"I was only 11 or 12. There was a Liverpool band called The Farm and their song became a bit of a football anthem and they asked for a choir to be on Top of The Pops so I had to dress up in a choir robe and sing on the show."
28-year-old Carter, who moved to Ireland when he was 18, is due to release his autobiography but he said he initially expressed surprise when the publishers approached him with an offer to write his life story.
"I laughed at first and said what have I got to write about and they said `we think there’s a demand and we think your fans would be interested in hearing the story so far’," he said. "So I got together with a fantastic writer called Emma Hetherington from Tyrone.
"Last year and this year for me has been pretty crazy so we came up with the idea of doing a bit of a tour diary. I played the 3Arena and I went to London to play the London Palladium on St Patrick’s Day, which was pretty cool.
"Life on the tour bus is always a bit mental so we thought we’d do a tour diary and also going back and looking at my family history and where I came from in Liverpool, the ups and downs of showbiz. I’ve had some good times and some bad times."
He is due to release a new album Born For The Road is released on October 12.
