Christmas Carols and Their Stories
Puzzle 66 · Carol Services, Choirs and Bells · Page 94 in print
King's College Chapel
Rubens painted The Adoration of the Magi in 1633-34 for a convent in Louvain. Offered to King’s College in 1961, it now hangs beneath the chapel’s Great East Window, completed in 1531.
Jump to a word
The words
Arthur Mann
Arthur Henry Mann, organist who directed the first festival.
Bidding Prayer
The opening prayer of the King’s service.
Cleobury
Sir Stephen Cleobury, organist 1982–2019.
East Window
The Great East Window, completed in 1531.
Eton
Henry VI’s other foundation, linked to King’s.
Fan Vault
The chapel’s stone ceiling.
John Wastell
Master mason of the final phase and its fan vault.
Milner-White
Eric Milner-White, Dean who planned the 1918 service.
Reginald Ely
First master mason of the chapel.
Rubens
Painter of the chapel’s altarpiece, given in 1961.
Stained Glass
The chapel’s windows, glazed mostly under Henry VIII.
Surplice
The white robe worn by the choristers.
Trebles
The sixteen boy trebles required by Henry VI’s statutes.
Tudor
The royal house whose emblems fill the later carving.
Willcocks
Sir David Willcocks, organist 1957–73.
Sources
- King’s College, Cambridge, official site (A History of A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols)kings.cam.ac.uk
- Sotheby’s Magazine, ‘Going, Going, Gone: Making Room for the Rubens’ (James Haldane, 2025)sothebys.com
- King’s College, Cambridge, official site (History of the Chapel)kings.cam.ac.uk
- King’s College, Cambridge, official site (King’s College Chapel: Up to 1515)kings.cam.ac.uk
- Gresham College lecture transcript, Professor Jeremy Summerly, ‘Boris Ord’s King’s College Carols’ (10 December 2020)gresham.ac.uk