She enabled the 597 Gregorian mission, led by Augustine, which resulted in the conversion to Christianity of Anglo-Saxon England.

Bertha was a Frankish princess, the daughter of Charibert I and his wife Ingoberga, granddaughter of the reigning King Chlothar I and great-granddaughter of Clovis I and Clotilde.

It is acknowledged by UNESCO as the oldest church in the English-speaking world where Christian worship has taken place continuously since 580.

When Gregory decided to send a mission led by Augustine to restore Christianity to England in 596, the Pope requested that Bertha incline her husband's heart to give a favourable reception.

Augustine was supposed to move on but upon arrival in 597 he decided to found the Abbey of St Peter and Paul on land granted by Æthelberht.