Kindness and empathy celebrated at royal carol service

There were musical performances by Gregory Porter, who sang Do You Hear What I Hear?; JP Cooper, who performed Oh Holy Night; Paloma Faith, who sang This Christmas; and Olivia Dean, who performed The Christmas Song.

Dancers from the Royal Ballet performed as the Choir of Westminster Abbey sang John Rutter’s anthem Colours of Christmas.

The Christmas story was told in readings from Isaiah 9 given by The Prince of Wales, and from Luke 2 given by Adam Peaty. Michell Dockery read Reflections on Empathy and Kindness, her own composition written specially for the service; and Richard E Grant read an extract from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Sophie Okonedo read The Kindness of Trees by Jackie Kay, with a piano accompaniment by Rosey Chang. 

The service was sung by the Abbey Choir, conducted by Andrew Nethsingha, Organist and Master of the Choristers. The organ was played by Matthew Jorysz, Sub-Organist, and before the service by Paul Greally, Assistant Organist.

Before the service, the congregation enjoyed music by young performers from Restore the Music, a charity which makes music accessible to children across the UK.  

As they entered the Abbey, guests were invited to write the names of people who have shown them kindness over the last year on decorations which were hung on a Christmas tree.

Watch the service

Watch Royal Carols: Together at Christmas on demand on ITVX

You can also see clips of the readings and musical performances from the service via our YouTube playlist.

Further reading

Order of Service: Together at Christmas 2024 (PDF, 137KB) 
The Dean of Westminster’s reflection (PDF, 96KB)