The King has paid tribute to Beyonce, describing her as "exceptional" and congratulating the singer on her first album of the year Grammy during his online radio show.

The US superstar's biggest hit Crazy In Love was played during the King's Music Room program, alongside Diana Ross's Upside Down, with Charles confessing it was "absolutely impossible" not to dance to the former Motown singer's track when he was a younger man.

Charles became a one-off disc jockey for the online radio show after being left "surprised and delighted" to be asked by Apple Music to showcase 17 of his favourite songs by artists such as Jools Holland, Michael Buble and Dame Kiri Takanawa to mark Commonwealth Day.

He also remembered his grandmother, the Queen Mother, playing one of her favourites, Al Bowlly, singing The Very Thought of You from the 1930s, and described how music from that period "never fails to lift my spirits".

Beyonce, who will bring her Cowboy Carter tour to London in June, performed Crazy in Love at the Prince's Trust Fashion Rocks concert in 2003, the year the single was released.

The British monarch described her as "a performer so exceptional that I just could not resist including her music" and said she was featured to showcase an "iconic musical moment from the many events which have supported my trust's work for young people over all these years".

As he introduced the track, he told listeners: "Therefore here is one of the Trust's most faithful supporters, the incomparable Beyonce, with the song Crazy in Love.

"And incidentally, I would like to congratulate her for winning her first album of the year Grammy."

As Charles introduced Kylie Minogue's song Locomotion, he described the Australian star's track as "music for dancing" and said "again, it has that infectious energy which makes it, I find, incredibly hard to sit still".

Like a consummate DJ, Charles introduced each song, among them reggae star Bob Marley's Could You Be Loved, the "superb" Grace Jones' version of La Vie En Rose, the 1964 hit My Boy Lollipop by Millie Small, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa singing E Te Iwi E (Call to the People), Michael Buble's Haven't Met You Yet, Anoushka Shankar playing Indian Summer, the carnival classic Hot Hot Hot by Arrow, and Jools Holland and Ruby Turner with My Country Man.

The final song he played was Upside Down by Diana Ross, with Charles telling listeners: "...when I was much younger, it was absolutely impossible not to get up and dance when it was played.

"So I wonder if I can still just manage it."

With AAP.