Once in Royal David's City | |
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Genre | Hymn |
Occasion | Christmas |
Written | 1848 |
Text | Cecil Frances Alexander |
Language | English |
Based on | Luke 2:4–7 |
Meter | 8.7.8.7.7.7 |
Melody | "Irby" by Henry Gauntlett |
Once in Royal David's City is a Christmas carol originally written as a poem by Cecil Frances Alexander. The carol was first published in 1848 in her hymnbook Hymns for Little Children. A year later, the English organist Henry Gauntlett discovered the poem and set it to music.[1]