Hockney, The Queen and the Royal Peculiar

David Hockney accepts a commission to create and install a stained-glass window in Westminster Abbey to mark the sixty-fifth year of Queen Elizabeth II's reign. The film traces his process from initial sketches and color studies through fabrication and the challenges of installing art in an ancient, sacred building. Cameras stay close to the hands-on phases, the technical problem solving and the exchanges between Hockney and those helping realize the project. Rather than chasing drama, the documentary concentrates on craft, logistics and decision-making, giving an intimate view of an artist adapting his practice to a high-profile, ceremonial context. It also shows the public interest surrounding a royal dedication.

Directed by Louise Lockwood and released in 2018, this documentary features David Hockney and Alan Yentob, recording the artist's work on the Abbey commission and the surrounding interviews and archival material that contextualize the project and its public framing overall.

The film had a limited theatrical and festival run, typical for niche art documentaries, and didn't generate wide commercial returns. Its audience was mainly art communities, museumgoers and broadcast viewers, rather than mainstream box office crowds or large global revenue.

The film underscores Hockney's profile as an influential British artist and highlights the unusual pairing of contemporary art with a venerable royal setting. It encouraged conversations about public art, conservation in sacred spaces, and how modern aesthetics sit within ceremonial traditions, alongside interest in logistics of producing large-scale ecclesiastical commissions.

Critical response has been modest and specialized, with reviewers and viewers noting the film's patient emphasis on technique, the materiality of color and light in glass, and the negotiation between contemporary artistic practice and ceremonial tradition. It reads as an art-world portrait as much as a study of public patronage.