Chapel Royal is a designation given to certain chapels and churches with links to the monarchy in England and Canada. According to the Royal Family's website, 'in origin and still in principle, the Chapel Royal is not a building but an establishment: a body of priests and singers to serve the spiritual needs of the Sovereign'. In the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, the Chapels Royal is the name of the department responsible for the chapel establishment, staffed by Anglican clergy, church musicians and the officers of the Vestry (who function as vergers). The Chapels Royal and the College of Chaplains together form the monarch's Ecclesiastical Household.
Historically, the chapel royal was an establishment of chaplains, clerks, children and servants that travelled with the monarch as part of his royal court. The chapel royal ministered to the Household and sang services each day, wherever the monarch was residing. As the court became more settled, the term 'chapel royal' came to be attached to places of worship in the principal royal palaces: those within the Tower of London, the Palace of Westminster and Eltham Palace were the earliest examples. The chapels royal played a significant role in the musical life of the nation: composers such as Tallis, Byrd, Bull, Gibbons, and Purcell all served as Gentlemen of the Chapel.
At the present time, the Chapels Royal in England are: the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace and the Queen's Chapel, St James's Palace; the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace; the Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula and the Chapel Royal of St John the Evangelist (both in the Tower of London); and The King's Chapel of the Savoy. Each chapel (or pair of chapels) is staffed by a chaplain and has a choir singing regular services through the year. Historically, there were Chapels Royal in Scotland and Ireland as well (see below).
In Canada, the three chapels royal are affiliated with some of the country's First Nations; the earliest of the three is the Mohawk Chapel, the oldest surviving church in Ontario (which was designated as a royal chapel by King Edward VII in 1904). Outside Canada and the United Kingdom, there is also royal chapel on Bermuda: St. Peter's Church - Their Majesties Chappell, located in St. George's Parish (its royal title was originally bestowed under William and Mary in 1697 and confirmed by Elizabeth II in 2012); this reputedly is the oldest continually-used Anglican church in the Western Hemisphere.
Chapel Royal equivalents, often similarly named, are (or were) to be found in other monarchies, particularly in countries where there is or was an established, national or state church.
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).Constitutional Reform: Reforming the Office of the Lord Chancellor (Department of Constitutional Affairs, 2003), p. 32: "The three principal Royal Peculiars are Westminster Abbey, St George's Chapel and the Chapels Royal."
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).
Canon of the Chapels Royal is a recently revived title. In 2012, Roger Hall, the Chaplain of the Tower of London, was made canon of the Chapels Royal at the Tower of London, the first such appointment since the 16th century; others have since been appointed.
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.Stuart D.B. Picken, Historical Dictionary of Calvinism (Scarecrow Press), p. 62. 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 Middle Ages 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 , 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 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 in their singing and . 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).
Tudor period
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.