Both churches are grappling with internal divisions, including a battle over homosexuality, and the service comes as several high-profile figures, including some members of the royal family and former Prime Minister Tony Blair, have left the Anglican Church. (In 2011, a ban on a British monarch marrying a Roman Catholic was lifted after more than three centuries, but Roman Catholics are still barred from taking the throne).

For his part, Pope Francis announced changes last year that were intended to make it easier for Roman Catholics to get annulments and remarry within the church, and he will soon meet with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in what would be the first meeting between leaders of the two churches in about 1,000 years.

Amid the backdrop of change in both the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches, the pope's personal preacher, Raniero Cantalamessa, led a prayer at Westminster Abbey in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II in November. He told his audience in London that Roman Catholics should celebrate Protestantism and "benefit from its achievements."

The schism dates to 1534, when Henry VIII declared himself the head of the Church of England. The split allowed Henry to leapfrog from one marriage to another in search of a male heir: He annulled two marriages and had two of his other wives executed, including Anne Boleyn, for whom he had rejected papal authority in the first place. Only one of his wives managed to outlive him (another died after giving birth).

The vespers service on Tuesday, to be held in the Chapel Royal of Hampton Court, which is about 15 miles southwest of Central London, was originally conceived to celebrate the palace's 500th anniversary and the chapel's musical heritage. The prayer will be sung mostly in Latin and will be led by Britain's most senior Roman Catholic cleric, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, and by Bishop Richard Chartres of London.

John Studzinski, founder of the Genesis Foundation, an arts charity that helped organize the service, said that "dialogue between faiths is much needed and welcomed in these turbulent times."

The Chapel Royal of Hampton Court hosted some of the most crucial moments in the fickle love life of Henry VIII. The capricious monarch, who grew portly in later life and was known for his penchant for lobster, porpoise and custard, secretly married Anne Boleyn there despite the church in Rome having refused to grant him an annulment from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

After the marriage, Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy in 1534, which allowed Henry to declare himself head of the Church of England.

Henry VIII had Anne executed at the Tower of London in 1536 after a court investigation charged her with witchcraft and adultery with several men, including her brother.

The Chapel Royal of Hampton Court also hosted the baptism in 1537 of the son of Henry and Jane Seymour, Anne's lady-in-waiting and the king's third wife. Jane died soon after from complications related to the birth.

It was also at Hampton Court that Henry signed the annulment of his marriage to Anne of Cleves, his fourth wife, in 1540, just six months after their wedding.

He followed that up with a fifth marriage, this time to Catherine Howard, who was Anne Boleyn's first cousin. But when scandalous accusations were made against Catherine in a letter addressed to the king and placed on his royal seat at the palace, Henry VIII also had her beheaded at the Tower of London.

Henry married Catherine Parr, his sixth and last wife, at the Chapel Royal in 1543. Henry died in 1547; Catherine Parr managed to outlive him by less than two years.

END