07 January 2016, The Tablet

Open court


 
Cherubs in King Henry VIII’s chapel at Hampton Court may well be blowing their trumpets as Catholic Vespers is to be celebrated there for the first time since the Reformation. The service, which will be conducted in Latin, is due to be celebrated by Cardinal Vincent Nichols on Tuesday 9 February, with a homily by the Anglican Bishop of London, Richard Chartres.The chapel has a turbulent history. Cardinal Wolsey, who built its foundations, was forced to surrender Hampton Court to Henry VIII when he fell from favour for not securing the king an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.King Henry and Anne Boleyn were married in the adjoining privy chamber. Edward VI was baptised in the chapel by Archbishop Cranmer, and his mother, Jane Seymour, lay in state there for three week
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