The Royal Family will be flying into St Petersburg from England on Sunday, November 12 for an offical engagement.
While graciously giving an audience to several thousand people, their majesties will be introduced to the Fab Four when they will probably go completely Ga Ga in what promises to be a Hard Days Night to remember.
We are, of course, talking about the ultimate in tribute shows starring two kitch groups from Great Britain: The Royal Family taking off 1970s rock legend Queen and Beatlemania immitating the Beatles.
The Royal Family formed in early 1989 playing Queen covers around North England's Humberside area. After around 12 months the band soon developed a substantial following around the region. Although each member plays a very important role in the band, their success is largely due to the vocalists remarkable portrayal of Freddie Mercury.
Beatlemania was launched following a meeting in 1993 between four Beatles fanatics. All the band members had served their "apprenticeship" for a number of years in the Oxford area with a variety of different groups before forming Beatlemania.
Later in 1994 the new band was voted the best band in Oxfordshire, Buckingham and Berkshire in a listeners poll on the independent radio station Fox FM beating off 250 other bands.
Following on from their radio success the band was spotted by the British Central Television network and were filmed playing live at the opening of the film "Backbeat."
The band now has a strong following throughout the UK, particularly on the university circuit and have supported such bands as the Abba take-off group Bjorn Again and the Bootleg Beatles.
In 1993 the Royal Family toured Germany, Spain and Ireland before returning to England to begin a UK tour which took in major cities from Glasgow to Plymouth. The band auditioned for the British Granada TV show "Stars in Their Eyes." Although not appearing on the show, the band were very pleased to reach the final 75 acts from 10,000 entries.
In October 1994 the band was highly acclaimed follwing a performance for the Variety Club of Great Britain at a tribute dinner for the TV soap opera set in Liverpool -- "Brookside".
The band is continuing its rapid rise as one of the top Beatles tribute shows performing with major 60s stars such as Gerry and the Pacemakers and the Drifters.