JAY MCGUINESS CENTRE STAGE

The Wanted star on meeting royalty, how his childhood inspired his debut book and why his bandmates are keen to watch him act

As a key member of one of Britain’s best-loved boybands, The Wanted’s Jay McGuiness has mingled with movie stars and rubbed shoulders with royalty and leading politicians.

“I travelled the world and met presidents, actors and actresses I really admire, and literal royals,” the Glad You Came singer tells hello!. “And I was meeting them on a level where some of the veil is dropped and you speak to the people they are. Then you think: ‘This is nuts.’

“Every time you meet a royal, it’s as though the whole room is tipped towards them,” continues Jay, 33. “Everyone is looking at what they’re doing and it’s such an interesting room to be in.

“And then, weirdly, in some other rooms, people will be looking at me like: ‘Oh, that’s that curly-haired loser out of The Wanted,’” he adds with a self-deprecating laugh.

It’s these experiences that feed into Jay’s debut young-adult novel Blood Flowers. A story of love, witchcraft, betrayal and murder, it follows 17-year-old protagonist Bear, who lives in a walled town called Calleston, where there is a stark divide between rich and poor.