A STAINED glass window designed by Bradford's David Hockney to celebrate the reign of the Queen has been unveiled at Westminster Abbey.

The window is Hockney's first foray into stained glass, and reflects Queen Elizabeth II's love for and connection with the countryside.

The design was created on Hockney's iPad, and is set within his beloved Yorkshire, featuring hawthorn blossom.

It uses his instantly recognisable distinctive colour palette, incorporating yellows, reds, blue, pink, orange and greens.

Speaking about his design, Hockney said: "I hope she'll like it.

"I've learnt something about glass.

"Landscape is nature. The previous window put up in here was also nature, lilies.

"I chose the hawthorn which is for four days like the moment when champagne looks as though it's been poured over all the bushes.

"It's a rather celebratory thing. It's the height of the spring and summer.

"I know this is a historic place and I know it's going to last."

He said using an iPad was "the natural thing to use because it is back-lit like a window" for his design.

The window, titled The Queen's Window, will be officially dedicated in the Abbey's north transept at 11.30am on Tuesday, October 2, by the Dean of Westminster Abbey the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, and Hockney, along with his family, friends and invited guests will be present for the ceremony.

Dr Hall said: "I'm excited by it, I think there's absolutely no harm at all in having something which is particular and vibrant and different.

"Some of the glass here is not very good. Some of it is not too bad, but this has a wonderful, beautiful, easily accessible vibrant colour. I think people will enjoy it.

"It's going to be here until the end. I mean, who knows what's going to happen in the future! The Abbey's only been here just over 1,000 years. It'll be thousands more."

"The Queen's obviously seen a sketch but she'll see it in person when she's here in November.

"You wouldn't necessarily get very much reaction out of the Queen. She absorbs things. But she's also I think quite trusting."

Hockney, 81, studied at Bradford Grammar School and Bradford College of Art, and is one of the most successful and celebrated British artists of the Queen's reign, best known for his works portraying Yorkshire landscapes and paintings of life in California.

Westminster Abbey said that the window "reflects the Queen as a countrywoman and her widespread delight in, and yearning for, the countryside".

Barley Studio, a stained glass studio based in York, created the window using traditional techniques to bring Hockney's design to life.