Faith and the Crown: Hampton Court Palace

Thursday, 11 February 2016

History was made on the evening of Tuesday 9 February 2016 when the Genesis and Choral Foundations brought together leaders from the Catholic and Anglican Church for the first service according to the Roman Catholic Latin Rite to be celebrated at Hampton Court Palace’s Chapel Royal in 450 years. Led by His Eminence Cardinal Vincent Nichols and the Dean of HM Chapels Royal, The Rt Revd & Rt Hon Dr Richard Chartres KCVO, Faith and the Crown was a monumental, historic and truly memorable event. Prefaced by a conversation between the two clergymen that centred on the relationship between religion and state and followed by a private reception, held in The Cartoon Gallery, the celebration of Vespers included music performed by Harry Christophers, The Sixteen and Genesis Sixteen.

The service was recorded by BBC Radio 3 for a world exclusive broadcast and received extensive international press coverage. News stories featured widely in print, on-line and broadcast media, including pieces on the BBC News at Ten and ABC Australia; articles were published in The New York Times, The Daily Telegraph and the Guardian, and, with the addition of broad engagement on social media, the result was a potential impression reach of half a billion people.

Watch the short film below to find out more about this special project:

To find out more about this event, click here.

To find out more about the partnership with The Sixteen, click here.