This year’s Mercury Prize ceremony has been postponed following the announcement that Queen Elizabeth II died this afternoon (September 8).

The red carpet for the event had previously been cancelled after Buckingham Palace issued a statement earlier today, which said that “doctors [were] concerned for Her Majesty’s health” and had “recommended she remain under medical supervision”.

The 2022 Mercury Prize ceremony was to be hosted by Lauren Laverne and broadcast on BBC Four from 9pm-10.15pm BST and on BBC Radio 6 Music from 7pm-midnight.

“In light of the sad news of the passing of Her Majesty the Queen, we are so sorry to announce that we will not be proceeding with this evening’s event as planned,” Mercury Prize shared in a statement.

“Mercury Prize will be communicating with guests and audience members over the coming days,” they added. “We thank you for your understanding at this difficult and sad time.”

12 albums had been shortlisted for this year’s Album Of The Year award including Harry Styles’ ‘Harry’s House’, Little Simz’s ‘Sometimes I Might be Introvert’, Sam Fender’s ‘Seventeen Going Under’, Wet Leg’s self-titled album and Yard Act’s ‘The Overload’.

Eleven of the 12 nominees were confirmed to perform live at the ceremony, which was set to take place at London’s Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith. Only Harry Styles was unable to attend, and planned to instead pre-record a special performance that would be broadcasted during the event.

Speaking about her nomination, Self Esteem recently told NME. “I’m not being coy, but I can’t believe what’s happened. “I’d really made my peace with being consistently underground and under-dogged. Something has happened where people have connected to [the album]. It’s still kind of a slow-burn and slowly growing – it’s not like my life has changed overnight – but my greatest joy is making music.”

Last year, Arlo Parks walked away with the 2021 Mercury Prize for her album ‘Collapsed In Sunbeams’. A future date for this year’s ceremony has not been shared at this time.