Chapel Royal

Status

In the Church of England, extant chapels royal are classed as royal peculiars (being under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the monarch, rather than that of a diocesan bishop). As a collective body, the Chapels Royal are deemed to be one of the three principal royal peculiars of the realm (the other two being Westminster Abbey and St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle).

There is a long-standing ambiguity as to whether the terms 'Chapel Royal' and 'Chapels Royal' in the Royal Household refer primarily to a building/buildings or an organisation. Chapel Royal historian David Baldwin connects this with a 'power struggle' in the early eighteenth century between the Lord Chamberlain and the Earl Marshal over the control and direction of royal ceremonial occasions. In 1702, Queen Anne went to St Paul's Cathedral for a service of thanksgiving following her accession; an Order in Council was issued declaring St Paul's to be a Chapel Royal for the day (making the cathedral a notional extension of the royal palace), with the result that the Lord Chamberlain, rather than the Earl Marshal, managed the ceremonial. The same approach was used following the accession of George I in 1714, with the same result. The idea of 'chapel royal' signifying a place, rather than a company of people, then gained traction as the eighteenth century progressed: for example, Edmund Gibson was appointed 'Dean of His [Majesty's] Chapel Royal' in 1721, but in 1762 Richard Osbaldeston's appointment to the office was gazetted as 'Dean of His Majesty's Chapels Royal', (and the latter form of words has remained in use to the present day). The change coincided with the chapel having settled into certain fixed locations, rather than being an itinerant body; nevertheless, debate over the correct use of the term continued in subsequent centuries: for example, when the future of the Chapel Royal was being discussed in the 1940s (the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace having been damaged in the Blitz), the sub-dean W. H. Elliott asserted that 'the Chapel Royal is not a building at all, but a body of singers and musicians, who accompanied the king wherever he went'.

Personnel

The office of Dean of His Majesty's Chapels Royal, in existence since 1349, is a royal household appointment that nowadays is usually held by the Bishop of London. Under the monarch, the dean oversees the chapel royal establishment with the assistance of the Sub-Dean of the Chapels Royal (who is the only full-time clerical member of the household).

The Chapel Royal Choir consists of six Gentlemen-in-Ordinary (the Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal) and ten choristers (the Children of the Chapel Royal), together with the Organist and Choirmaster and the Sub-Organist. They are based at St James's Palace (where the Sub-Dean functions as chaplain). The choir of the chapel royal claims to be one of the oldest continuous musical organisations in the world.

Today the Gentlemen of the chapel are lay clerks, but historically a proportion of them were clerks in holy orders, who took turns in singing the daily office. Over time these clerks evolved into the separate office of Priest in Ordinary; today there are two such priests (and a number of deputies), who attend in turn to assist the Sub-Dean in officiating at services and in pastoral and other duties.

The office of Serjeant of the Vestry is first recorded in 1254. By 1449 the vestry staff are listed as one serjeant, one yeoman and two grooms; they had charge of the 'plate, books, vestments and other ornaments pertaining to the chapel'. The office of Yeoman of the Vestry was united with that of Serjeant in 1868, but the appointment of Groom of the Vestry is still in place. The groom and serjeant both function as vergers for the Chapel Royal; the Keeper of the Closet fulfils a similar role.

Up until 1912, Chaplains to the Sovereign were considered to be part of the Chapel Royal establishment. In that year they were formed into a separate body, the College of Chaplains, with the Clerk of the Closet (rather than the Dean of the Chapels Royal) designated as their head. Chaplains to the King continue to preach annually at the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace. It was long the case (as stated in 1894) that: 'no one is permitted to preach in the Chapel Royal who is not either a chaplain in ordinary or an honorary chaplain to the Queen'—except during Lent (when Deans and Bishops were invited to preach) and on Easter Day and Whit Sunday (when, by custom, the Lord High Almoner or the Sub-Almoner preached).

Duties and activities

The Gentlemen and Children of the Chapel Royal sings choral services at St James's Palace on Sundays and major feast days (except in August and September), and elsewhere when called upon to do so by the monarch. The other Chapels Royal in London have their own choirs and maintain a similar pattern of services.

On Remembrance Sunday the Chapel Royal leads the Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in Whitehall; the dean usually officiates, assisted by the Sub-Dean, and the choir sings. On Maundy Thursday each year, the Gentlemen and Children of the Chapel attend the monarch at the Royal Maundy service, joining with the choir of the host abbey or cathedral for the occasion. The choir also customarily takes part in state and royal events such as coronations, royal weddings, state and ceremonial royal funerals, jubilee services of thanksgiving, etc. (on these occasions they likewise usually combine with the choir of the abbey or cathedral where the service is taking place). A significant number of royal weddings and christenings have taken place in the Chapels Royal over the centuries. Baptisms, weddings and funerals of members of the Household may also take place there, with the monarch's permission.

HM Chapel Royal in Scotland

The Royal Household in Scotland makes its own ecclesiastical provision, which is separate from that of the Anglican Chapels Royal. Dean of His Majesty's Chapel Royal in Scotland is a distinct office, held by a minister of the Church of Scotland, who oversees ecclesiastical arrangements for the Household in Scotland. Chaplains to the King in Scotland are also overseen by the dean. The appointment of dean is often joined with that of Dean of the Thistle.

History

England

In its early history, the English Chapel Royal travelled, like the rest of the court, with the monarch and performed its functions wherever he or she was residing at the time. The earliest written record of the Chapel dates from c. 1135, in the reign of Henry I. Specified in this document of household regulations are two gentlemen and four servants; although, there may have been other people within the Chapel at that time. An ordinance from the reign of Henry VI sets out the full membership of the Chapel as of 1455: one dean, 20 chaplains and clerks, seven children, one chaplain confessor for the household, and one yeoman. However, in the same year, the clerks petitioned the King asking that their number be increased to 24 singing men, due to "the grete labour that thei have daily in your chapell". The master of the children of the Chapel Royal had, until at least 1684, the power to impress promising boy trebles from provincial choirs for service in the Chapel.

From the reign of Edward IV in the late 1400s, further details survive: There were 26 chaplains and clerks, who were to be "cleare voysid" in their singing and "suffisaunt in Organes playing". The children were supervised by a master of song, chosen by the dean from among the gentlemen of the Chapel Royal; they were allocated supplies of meat and ale and their own servant. Additionally, there were two yeoman of the Chapel, who acted as epistlers, reading from the Bible during services; these were appointed from children of the Chapel whose voices had recently broken. In 1483 the various elements of the chapel were incorporated as the Royal Free Chapel of the Household: letters patent, issued in February that year, envisaged the chapel being governed by the Dean and three new canons: a sub-dean, treasurer and precentor; but Edward IV died two months later and the canonries were never endowed (though the office of sub-dean was retained).

The Chapel remained stable throughout the reign of Henry VIII and the dissolution of the monasteries. The number of singers did vary during this period, however, without apparent reason, from between 20 and 30 gentlemen and eight to 10 children. The Chapel travelled with the King to the Field of the Cloth of Gold and during the second invasion of France.

The Chapel increasingly took on another, unofficial function that grew in importance into the 17th century – performing in dramas. The affiliated theatre company, known as the Children of the Chapel, produced plays by playwrights including John Lyly, Ben Jonson, and George Chapman, and performed them at court and then commercially until the 1620s. Both the gentlemen and the children would act in pageants and plays for the royal family, held in court on feast days such as Christmas. For example, at Christmas 1514, the play The Triumph of Love and Beauty was written and presented by William Cornysh, then-Master of the Children, and was performed to the King by members of the Chapel, including the children.

Ireland

Prior to the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, the Chapel Royal, Dublin operated within Dublin Castle, which served as the official seat for the lord lieutenant of Ireland.

Scotland

In medieval Scotland, as in England, the chapel was a sizeable department of the Royal Household; it travelled with the king and his court from place to place and from palace to palace. Places of worship were provided within castles and palaces for the benefit of the monarch and the household alike, which were also termed Chapels Royal. In the fifteenth century there were chapels at Dumbarton Castle, Edinburgh Castle, Falkland Castle, Stirling Castle and Linlithgow Palace (among others). There is no evidence of a chapel within Dunfermline Palace, where the adjoining Abbey (itself a royal foundation) is assumed to have fulfilled the requirement. The Collegiate Church of St Mary on the Rock at St Andrews also functioned as a Chapel Royal.

In the early 1500s, King James IV built new or refurbished chapels in Edinburgh and Stirling Castles, and in Falkland and Linlithgow Palaces, as well as in his new Palace of Holyroodhouse. There is also a surviving 16th-century chapel at Rothesay Castle. Some of these replaced an older chapel, but in other cases the older chapel continued to operate alongside the new. Apart from the larger chapel buildings at Stirling and Edinburgh (which were at ground level), the chapels royal were usually located on the upper floor of the north or south range of the palace quadrangle (so as to be correctly orientated); they generally occupied all or most of the length of that part of the building. On occasion, however, something on a larger scale was required: thus at Holyrood, the adjacent Abbey was used for more elaborate royal ceremonies and services (such as the marriage of James IV and Margaret Tudor, and the coronation of Mary of Guise).

James IV's Chapel Royal at Stirling was a collegiate-type foundation, with a dean, a subdean, a sacrist, sixteen canons, sixteen prebends 'skilled in song' and six 'boy clerics' (or 'songsters'). In addition to the establishment at Stirling, there were twenty-seven chaplains attached to the royal court, who were overseen by the master almoner.

Initially, James Allardyce, the provost of St Mary on the Rock, St Andrews, was appointed dean at Stirling Castle (the two ecclesial offices being united) and certain canonries and prebends were used to endow the new foundation. Authority for the new collegiate chapel was set out in a Papal mandate, dated 2 May 1501 (which exempted the dean and other officers of the chapel from the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of St Andrews). When Allardyce died, however, soon after taking up the new appointment, the link with St Mary on the Rock was dissolved. From 1504 onwards, the deanery of the Chapel Royal was held by successive Bishops of Galloway with the title Bishop of the Chapel Royal and authority over all the royal palaces within Scotland. (Later, in 1621, the deanery was annexed to the bishopric of Dunblane—the offices were held conjointly: Bishop of Dunblane and Dean of the Chapel Royal; this arrangement pertained until the abolition of episcopacy in 1689.)

Locations

Bermuda

St. Peter's Church – Their Majesties Chappell – is located in St. George's Parish, Bermuda. It first received its royal designation during the joint reign of King William and Queen Mary (in a royal warrant dated 18 March 1697); this was reconfirmed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 18 March 2012. Their Majesties Chappell claims to be the oldest surviving Anglican church in continuous use outside the British Isles.

Canada

Chapels royal in Canada are religious establishments which have been granted a rare honorific distinction by the monarch in recognition of their unique role or place. Three sanctuaries in Canada, all located in the province of Ontario, have been designated as chapels royal. All have associations with First Nations communities and the connection between them and the Canadian Crown.

The first two chapels royal are situated within Mohawk communities that were established in Canada after the American Revolutionary War. The first, Mohawk Chapel in Brantford, was designated as a chapel royal in 1904 by King Edward VII Mohawk Chapel was designated in recognition of the historic alliance between the Mohawk people and the Crown, referred to as the Covenant Chain. A century later, in 2004, Christ Church, near Deseronto, was designated a chapel royal by Queen Elizabeth II. Christ Church, long the parish church of the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, was designated as a chapel royal in recognition of the community's military service.

Several gifts from the Crown were bestowed on these chapels royal, including silver communion services and a Bible from Queen Anne, a triptych from King George III, a Bible from Queen Victoria, and a bicentennial chalice from Queen Elizabeth II. In 2010, Elizabeth II presented to the Mohawk Chapel a set of silver hand bells engraved with the words Silver Chain of Friendship, 1710–2010, to commemorate the tricentennial of the first meeting between Mohawk representatives and the Crown.

In April 2016, the Queen approved in principle that St Catherine's Chapel in Toronto be designated a chapel royal. The chapel itself is situated within Massey College, a college of the University of Toronto, conceived by Vincent Massey, a former governor general of Canada. It became Canada's third chapel royal on 21 June, National Indigenous Peoples Day, 2017. St Catherine's Chapel is the first interfaith and interdenominational chapel royal and the only one with its own title in an Indigenous language. It was designated as a chapel royal in recognition of the sesquicentennial of Canada, the relationship between Massey College and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and as a gesture of reconciliation. The chapel acknowledge the history of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and its ratification by the Treaty of Niagara in 1764

England

The location of the United Kingdom's Chapels Royal has varied over the years. In the Tudor and early Stuart period, the chapel establishment moved with the monarch and court at regular intervals from palace to palace along the River Thames, spending weeks at a time at Greenwich Palace, Whitehall Palace, Richmond Palace and Hampton Court Palace, as well as at Windsor Castle. Following the Restoration, the reconstituted Chapel Royal was principally based at the Palace of Whitehall; fire destroyed the chapel there, and much of the rest of the palace, in 1698. Since 1702 the chapel's primary location has been St James's Palace.

The current Chapels Royal are all in Greater London; most of the buildings date from the Tudor period.

The Chapel Royal, St James's Palace, was built around 1540. The building is part of the main complex: it lies between Ambassadors' Court (to the west) and Colour Court (to the east), where it abuts the Great Gatehouse. The chapel is laid out on a north-south, rather than the usual east-west, axis and the altar is placed at the north end. When the gatehouse is viewed from Pall Mall, the large window to its right is the north window of the chapel (above the altar). The chapel interior includes an ornate coffered ceiling, 'one of the most important decorative Tudor ceilings in existence'. Reputedly painted by Holbein, it is richly illustrated with coats of arms and other motifs, including the initials 'H' and 'A' (for Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves) and the date 1540.

Sir Robert Smirke restored the chapel in 1837. As part of this work, the Closet (the south gallery containing the royal pew) was reduced in size (it had previously extended on pillars into the body of the chapel). The newly-exposed ceiling at the south end was made to match the Tudor work, and decorated with the cyphers of King William IV and Queen Adelaide. Box pews, arranged lengthwise, were installed in the chapel in 1876; and in 1894 choir stalls were inserted on either side of the altar.

A German bomb dropped on Pall Mall in 1940 destroyed the north window and the sanctuary furnishings; the building was restored a few years later, and further altered in the late 1960s. In 2002, the chapel was reordered and redecorated to mark the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II. As part of this refurbishment, a new set of stained-glass windows was installed above the altar, depicting a large tree arrayed with the names of the 54 nations of the Commonwealth.