Ceremony of Benefactors & Benefactors’ Feast 2026

Last week we hosted our annual Commemoration & Ceremony of Benefactors and The Benefactors’ Feast.

1st May 2026

Thanks to the generosity of people like you, Queens’ continues not just to endure, but to flourish. Philanthropy here has always been steady and purposeful—about backing people, ideas and a community worth sustaining.
– President Dame Menna Rawlings

Few occasions capture the spirit of Queens’ quite like the Ceremony of Benefactors and Benefactors’ Feast.

Bringing together benefactors, Fellows, students, and guests, the evening celebrates the generosity that continues to sustain the life of the College.

Beginning in Chapel with the traditional Ceremony of Benefactors, where donors are thanked individually by the President, the event reflects a practice rooted in the College’s earliest history.

This year, due to the wonderful weather, we were able to host the drinks reception outside, allowing attendees to converse in the President’s Garden ahead of the Feast in Old Hall.

The Feast is not only an expression of appreciation, but also a celebration of the shared belief that philanthropy helps ensure Queens’ remains a thriving academic community for future generations.

It is an occasion that both the College and our benefactors look forward to each year; a valued opportunity to celebrate generosity, reflect on our shared commitment to Queens’, and express our sincere gratitude for the continued support of our donors.

Queens’ can look effortless. Six hundred years of scholarship and intellectual inspiration. A place that seems, somehow, to have always been here and always will be.
But we know that it stands because people like you choose to hold it up, just as the bolts hold up that famous bridge. Quietly. Generation after generation.
– President Dame Menna Rawlings