Once in Royal David’s City: the words, the solo, and how a choir sings it
Once in Royal David’s City opens the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College, Cambridge, every Christmas Eve, with a single treble singing the first verse. Cecil Frances Alexander wrote it for children in 1848. This guide prints all six of her verses, explains why some churches cut two of them, and shows how a choir sings the carol, with our own recording.
Who wrote Once in Royal David’s City? Cecil Frances Alexander, an Irish poet who also wrote All Things Bright and Beautiful, published the words in 1848 in Hymns for Little Children. Henry John Gauntlett, a London organist, wrote the tune, Irby, the following year.
We supply the choir and the organist for church carol services, from £1,150 for four singers in Greater London, and carol singers for offices, hotels, and parties.
Once in Royal David’s City (words Cecil Frances Alexander), sung by our full choir. Hear more recordings.
The words of Once in Royal David’s City
These are Alexander’s six verses as she published them. Many carol services print all six; some leave out the third and fourth. She died in 1895, so the words are out of copyright.
Once in royal David’s city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her baby
In a manger for his bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little child.
He came down to earth from heaven
Who is God and Lord of all,
And his shelter was a stable,
And his cradle was a stall:
With the poor and mean and lowly
Lived on earth our Saviour holy.
And through all his wondrous childhood
He would honour and obey,
Love and watch the lowly maiden
In whose gentle arms he lay:
Christian children all must be
Mild, obedient, good as he.
For he is our childhood’s pattern;
Day by day like us he grew;
He was little, weak and helpless,
Tears and smiles like us he knew:
And he feeleth for our sadness,
And he shareth in our gladness.
And our eyes at last shall see him,
Through his own redeeming love,
For that child so dear and gentle
Is our Lord in heaven above:
And he leads his children on
To the place where he is gone.
Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see him; but in heaven,
Set at God’s right hand on high;
Where like stars his children crowned
All in white shall wait around.
Text: Cecil Frances Alexander, Hymns for Little Children (1848), from “Once in Royal David’s City”, Wikipedia; verses 1, 2, 5 and 6 checked against the 1907 printing in Our American Holidays: Christmas, Wikisource.
Alexander wrote it to explain the Creed to children
Cecil Frances Humphreys, born in Dublin in 1818, published Hymns for Little Children in 1848, two years before she married William Alexander, a clergyman who later became Archbishop of Armagh. The book takes the clauses of the Apostles’ Creed one by one and gives each a hymn a child could learn. All Things Bright and Beautiful covers “maker of heaven and earth”; There Is a Green Hill Far Away covers the crucifixion; Once in Royal David’s City covers “born of the Virgin Mary”.
That is why the verses are so plain. Royal David’s city is Bethlehem, where King David was born, and each verse makes one statement a child could repeat back. The third and fourth verses turn from the story to a lesson in behaviour: Christian children must be “mild, obedient, good as he”. They read as Victorian schoolroom morality now, and some churches leave them out.
Sources: “Once in Royal David’s City” and “Cecil Frances Alexander”, Wikipedia; King’s College, Cambridge.
Gauntlett’s tune and the King’s College solo
Henry John Gauntlett, organist of several London churches including St Olave’s, Southwark, and Union Chapel, Islington, set the words in 1849 to a tune he called Irby. He wrote more than a thousand hymn tunes; this is the one people know.
The carol became a processional through King’s College, Cambridge. Since 1919, the year after the first Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, the service has begun with it, in an arrangement by Arthur Henry Mann, the college organist. A boy chorister sings the first verse alone and unaccompanied from the back of the chapel. The choir takes the second verse as it processes, and the congregation joins from the third. The director of music chooses the soloist only moments before the broadcast begins, so no chorister spends the day dreading it.
The last verse usually has a descant. The one most churches use is David Willcocks’s, from Carols for Choirs 2.
How a choir sings it
We follow the King’s pattern. One of our singers takes the first verse alone and unaccompanied, a soprano or a tenor, ideally from the back of the church or out of sight. The choir sings the second verse in harmony as it walks in, and the organ and congregation come in for the third. You can hear the effect in our recording above.
A quartet can sing it this way: one of the four takes the solo, and the other three join for verse two. With six or eight singers the choir can process with more weight and add the descant on the last verse.
The solo needs a clear, steady voice that can hold its pitch without the organ, and the congregation goes quiet for it.
Four singers cost £1,150 for up to two hours, eight cost £2,000 and an organist is £250, so a choir of eight with an organist is £2,250. Each figure includes fees and travel within Greater London; the Christmas prices page lists every size.
Where to put it in a carol service
First. Once in Royal David’s City is the processional hymn for most Nine Lessons and Carols services, the congregation falls quiet for the solo, and the carol is long enough to get a choir from the west door to its stalls. After it come the Bidding Prayer and the first reading.
If your church has no room for a procession, sing it from the choir’s places with the solo still unaccompanied. Our guide to Nine Lessons and Carols has the full order, and hiring a choir for a church carol service covers how we work with your own organist.
The first reading, from Genesis 3, is traditionally followed by a choir carol rather than a hymn. Boris Ord’s Adam Lay Ybounden (1957), a short medieval text about the fall, is the usual choice, and it needs a choir: the congregation has no part in it.
Frequently asked questions
Who wrote Once in Royal David’s City?
Cecil Frances Alexander wrote the words, published in 1848 in Hymns for Little Children. Henry John Gauntlett wrote the tune, Irby, in 1849. The arrangement with the solo first verse, sung at King’s College, Cambridge, is by Arthur Henry Mann.
Why do some churches leave out two verses?
The third and fourth verses teach behaviour rather than tell the story: Christian children must be “mild, obedient, good as he”. They were written for Victorian children. Many services still sing all six; others sing verses one, two, five, and six.
Who sings the solo at King’s College?
A boy chorister, chosen by the director of music just before the Christmas Eve broadcast begins. He sings the first verse unaccompanied, and the choir and congregation join in the later verses.
Can a quartet sing Once in Royal David’s City?
Yes. One of the four sings the first verse alone, and the other three join for the second. Our recording is by our full choir. Four carol singers cost £1,150 for up to two hours in Greater London.
What does “royal David’s city” mean?
Bethlehem, the birthplace of King David. The Gospels place Jesus’s birth there because Joseph was of David’s family.
Book a choir for your carol service
If you want the solo opening at your service, tell us the date and the church. We will bring a singer for the first verse and a choir to follow.
Talk to us about your carol service
Text us on WhatsApp for the fastest reply, or email office@londonchoralservice.com.