Most people will have heard carols from King’s at some point over the years either on CD at home as part of their Christmas Eve tradition or on the radio or TV. The choir have voices like angels, the lessons remind us of the true meaning of Christmas and the service, invented at the college in 1918, is now inextricably associated with Christmas for many people both at home and abroad. To get into the service by reservation you have to be part of the college great and the good (I spotted Mary Beard while I was there) or hold an important civic position, for example the mayor, though this is probably beyond most of us. For a common or garden grunt such as me it meant a six a.m. start, over an hour’s drive and close to six hours of queuing. The chances of getting a good seat when you get in is very random (as I said in a earlier post, I was relatively lucky), the lighting is pants in much of the nave so it must be very hard even with reasonable eyesight to read the words to the carols, and the lessons themselves, whether by a young chorister or by the Provost can’t be heard very well at all. It’s a beautiful building and most of the joy of being there is sitting in the quiet before the service begins, looking at the architectural splendour and musing on its history – there are still the remnants of graffiti left by Parliament soldiers during the Civil War on the north and south walls for instance. And in more contemporary times the college has produced some notable alumni such as Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister of Great Britain, E. M. Forster, the novelist, John Maynard Keynes, the Economist and Alan Turing, the mathematician, all or most of whom must have attended services in the chapel at some point, though not necessarily the Nine Lessons and Carols.
Am I glad I did it? Yes I suppose so, mainly because of the strong association with Christmas Eve and having listened to it on the radio so many times.
Would I do it again? No But for some this was their third time and someone else had driven all the way from Manchester to attend.
Would I recommend it to others? Probably not. Listen to the service on the radio and then, if you want to see the chapel itself, especially the altar and Ruben’s painting, go to a normal service.
Never too Late Mark? Two and a half out of five.