Christ Church is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Christ Church is a joint foundation of the college and the cathedral of the Oxford diocese , which serves as the college chapel and whose dean is ex officio the college head.Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, it is one of the larger colleges of the University of Oxford with 629 students in 2016. It is also the wealthiest college with an endowment of £577.6m as of 2019. Christ Church has a number of architecturally significant buildings including Tom Tower , Tom Quad , and the Great Dining Hall which was also the seat of the parliament assembled by King Charles I during the English Civil War. The buildings have inspired replicas throughout the world in addition to being featured in films such as Harry Potter and The Golden Compass. This has helped Christ Church become the most popular Oxford college for tourists with almost half a million visitors annually.Christ Church has many notable alumni including thirteen British prime ministers , King Edward VII, King William II of the Netherlands, seventeen Archbishops, writers Lewis Carroll and W. H. Auden, philosopher John Locke, and scientist Robert Hooke. Christ Church is also partly responsible for the creation of University College Reading, which later gained its own Royal Charter and became the University of Reading. The first female undergraduates matriculated at Christ Church in 1980.
