Judi Dench and Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri treat Scottish hotel guests with Abba performance

Ain't nothing like a dame! Photo / Supplied

When booking a five-star hotel for New Year’s Eve, you might expect a bit of luxury and pampering.

But guests at the $950-a-night Fife Arms, in the Scottish Highlands, could hardly have imagined that they would be treated to an impromptu performance of Abba’s Waterloo by one of Britain’s most beloved actresses.

Dame Judi Dench stunned guests when, after a four-course dinner and a few rounds of ceilidh dancing, she took to the pianola (a self-playing piano) in the hotel’s lobby alongside Sharleen Spiteri, the lead singer of rock band Texas.

Sitting side-by-side with Spiteri, the Oscar-winning actor provided backing vocals and mimicked piano accompaniment for the Abba hit while Spiteri sang the chorus, to the delight of the 100 or so onlookers.

The performance was captured on film and later posted on Twitter by restaurateur and hotelier Ewan Venters. At the end of the 23-second clip, the Texas frontwoman then feigns shock at the Oscar winner’s musical abilities, saying: “What a pianist!”

Shortly before their performance, which happened at 11.45pm on Saturday, the pair enjoyed a luxury dinner of ham hock, scallops, beef Wellington and custard tart. Afterwards, they joined villagers, staff and fellow guests outside to watch an 18-minute fireworks display.

Venters, the CEO of the hospitality company Artfarm, which runs the hotel in Braemar, stressed that the performance had been totally unplanned.

He told The Telegraph: “Two of our guests were Judi and Sharleen – they know each other, but they met in the lobby and they had an impromptu performance in the lobby.

“They were having a giggle, and then next minute you saw what you saw, so I think it was a meeting of the minds of Judi and Sharleen. It was completely impromptu, completely impromptu – they had been sitting close at dinner.

“There was a spontaneous cheer and lovely round of applause and great affection for both of them, but in particular Dame Judi, who has played Queen Victoria many, many times and has a very close affinity with the Highlands.

“They were reeling and dancing, they were just fitting in with the crowd throughout the whole evening.”