We three kings of Orient are
We three kings of Orient are. John Henry Hopkins, Jr.* (1820-1891).
The hymn was composed as a surprise Christmas gift to Hopkins’s nieces and nephews. It was published as Three kings of Orient. A Christmas Carol (New York, 1865), and in Hopkins’s Carols, Hymns, and Songs (New York, 1865). It was frequently reprinted as a separate carol, and became very popular on both sides of the Atlantic. In Britain it was included in H.R. Bramley* and John Stainer*’s Christmas Carols New and Old (1871). It is suitable for Epiphany, but has been frequently sung at Christmas. The author provided these performance suggestions: ‘Each of verses 2, 3, and 4, is sung as a solo [Kings: Gaspard, Melchior and...
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Chicago style (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.)
. "We three kings of Orient are."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed February 7, 2026,
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/w/we-three-kings-of-orient-are.