As she stood by the side of the stage watching her rock star husband, Sir Rod Stewart, look out at the vast Glastonbury crowd, Penny Lancaster felt an enormous sense of pride.
The model, mother and TV personality has a passion for photography, and as she supported Rod during one of his greatest moments – filling the Legends slot on the festival’s Pyramid stage on the closing Sunday – Penny, 54, captured his performance and backstage preparations exclusively for HELLO!.
Speaking of a photograph she took before the show, she recalls: "Rod was staring out at the audience, fixated on the crowd and the flags and the enormity of the occasion. It was humbling and sweet to see how much it meant to him.
"Seeing all the Rod Stewart lookalikes with the wigs, the tartan, the Celtic shirts and the Scottish flags – you just had to soak it up. It was incredible."
Rod’s set featured surprise appearances from his former Faces bandmate Ronnie Wood, Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall and pop icon Lulu.
Wearing his signature flamboyant attire, which included suits in bright pink and green and an open-necked white shirt, he thrilled fans with hits including Maggie May, Baby Jane and Sailing.
However, days before the show – 23 years after his most recent appearance at the festival, in 2002 – the mood in the Stewart camp was very different, as the 80-year-old singer struggled to recover from a serious bout of flu that caused him to cancel a series of dates in the US.
Penny tells us: "He had influenza A, which is the worst one you can get. It knocked him sideways – he’s never been so ill in his entire life. About five days before Glastonbury, Rod said: 'I don’t think I’m going to be well enough. I tried my voice out and it’s not working.'
"He was worrying so much about the expectation and the pressure, everyone relying on him and not wanting to let anyone down. I think it just got in his head.
"I got him to a hospital in London, to a throat specialist. We had the camera down his throat to look at his voice box, we worked with a voice coach, we were hot steaming, cold steaming – we were doing everything," she continues.
THE POWER OF VISUALISATION
"He was on voice rest and I was very, very strict with him. I said: 'You have to visualise yourself being on stage and the great headlines, and manifest this whole experience, because it’s going to happen.'"
Then, two days before his Glastonbury performance, Rod felt better. "His voice was back again," Penny says. "It all turned around and he was on top of the world."
On the morning of the show, the excitement was building, Penny reveals. The couple's sons, Alastair, 19, and Aiden, 14, were at the festival, as were Rod’s daughters Ruby, 38, and Renee, 33, and their partners.
Backstage, the energy was electric. "The excitement of Lulu, Mick and Ronnie being there… the energy was on fire. You could feel it pulsing," Penny tells us.
Devoted Penny was determined to be by her husband’s side as he walked on stage.
"We’ve been working so closely as a team that I wanted to be there; just that glance at one another and revving him up and keeping those positive vibes going."
Not surprisingly, the rocker was elated after his set. "He came off stage with the biggest grinning face," Penny says.
"The picture of him coming down the stairs is just relief. He was on such a high. He kept saying: 'We did it.' I said, 'No, you did it, darling', and he went, 'No, we did it – I couldn’t have done it without you'."
To read the full exclusive interview, pick up the latest issue of HELLO! on sale in the UK on Monday. You can subscribe to HELLO! to get the magazine delivered free to your door every week or purchase the digital edition online via our Apple or Google apps.