AM host Melissa Chan-Green visited St Alban's Cathedral in England and found it had a strong connection to Aotearoa for several reasons.
Chan-Green is in England as she is covering the death of Queen Elizabeth II who died on Thursday (local time), aged 96 at her Balmoral home in Scotland.
One of the main reasons the cathedral has a connection with New Zealand is the fact that the high altar in the church has been made out of paua shell.
Chan-Green told her co-hosts the high altar was made during the Victorian era and said: "Few people know what that is about, why it has been crafted out of paua shell but it is a cathedral and a city that feels it has some strong links to New Zealand."
Another link to New Zealand is that the former Archdeacon of Canterbury and former Dean of Auckland Jo Kelly-Moore has been the Dean of St Albans since 2021.
Chan-Green spoke to Kelly-Moore who has been welcoming people into the cathedral to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II and said it has been extraordinary the number of people who have turned up to mourn the loss of the Queen.
"People have been pouring in the doors, hundreds and hundreds of people queuing to come in," Kelly-Moore told Chan-Green.
The Dean of St Albans said it was incredible to see and that the Queen touched the hearts of many because of how she was with people.
"Her late majesty noticed and cared for people even down in the South Pacific."
