Chapel Royal

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 . 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. In music, the Chapel achieved its greatest eminence during the reign of Elizabeth I, when William Byrd and Thomas Tallis were joint organists. 17th century In the 17th century, the Chapel Royal had its own building in Whitehall, which burned in 1698; since 1702, it has been based at St James's Palace. The English Chapel Royal became increasingly associated with Westminster Abbey, so that, by 1625, over half of the gentlemen of the English Chapel Royal were also members of the Westminster Abbey choir. In the 18th century, the choristers sang the soprano parts in performances of Handel's oratorios and other works. Under Charles II, the choir was often augmented by violinists from the royal consort; at various times, the Chapel has also employed composers, lutenists, and viol players. ==Functions and functionaries in the chapels royal of the United Kingdom==

, The Chapel Royal in the United Kingdom is a department of the Ecclesiastical Household, which was established in 1483, under Edward IV, as the Royal Free Chapel of the Household. The Chapel Royal, in this sense, is a grouping of clerics and musicians, rather than a physical building. The members of the ecclesiastical household in Scotland are supplied by the Church of Scotland, while the members of ecclesiastical household in England are supplied by the Church of England. Since the 18th century, the dean of the Chapel Royal in England has been the sitting Bishop of London, with control of music vested in the sub-dean (currently Paul Wright). ==Locations==

United Kingdom at The Cenotaph in London, UK, in 2018 The location of the United Kingdom's Chapel Royal has varied over the years. For example, in the early Tudor period and in Elizabeth I's reign, the Chapel's activity was often centred on the Greenwich Palace and the Palace of Whitehall. During the reign of King Charles III, the Chapel's primary location is at St James's Palace. St James's Palace The chapel at St James's has been regularly used by the canons and singers since 1702, after the loss of the Chapel Royal at Whitehall Palace to fire, and is the most commonly used facility today. Located in the main block of the palace, it was built around 1540 and has been altered since, most notably by Sir Robert Smirke in 1837. The large window to the right of the palace gatehouse is in the north wall of this chapel, which is laid out on a north-south, rather than the usual east-west, axis. Its ceiling is decorated with royal initials and coats of arms and is said to have been painted by Holbein. , and Mary of Teck at the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace, 1894 The separate Queen's Chapel, once also physically connected to the main building of St James's Palace, was built between 1623 and 1625 as a Roman Catholic chapel for Queen Henrietta Maria, consort of Charles I, at a time when the construction of Roman Catholic churches was otherwise prohibited in England. From the 1690s, it was used by continental Lutheran courtiers and became known as the German chapel. The "Minister for many years" of the "royal French chapel" at St James's Palace was Pierre Rival (d. 1730), one of whose sermons is published as . The adjacent palace apartments burnt down in 1809; but, they were not rebuilt and, between 1856 and 1857, Marlborough Road was laid out between the palace and the Queen's Chapel. Windsor At Windsor Castle is one of the largest royal peculiars, St George's Chapel. However, it is governed by its own college, separate from St. James's Chapel Royal. Near the royal apartments, there is also the smaller private chapel. In the grounds of Windsor's Royal Lodge is the Royal Chapel of All Saints. Scotland In the 15th century, it is believed that the Chapel Royal referred to a prebend in the Church of St Mary on the Rock, at St Andrews. In 1501, James IV founded a new Chapel Royal in Stirling Castle; but, 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. The deanery was annexed to the bishopric of Dunblane in 1621, and the Chapel Royal was moved to Holyrood. Following the Glorious Revolution in 1688, a mob in Edinburgh broke into the abbey, entered the Chapel Royal, and desecrated the royal tombs. From then on, the building fell into decay and became a roofless ruin. The restoration of the abbey has been proposed several times since the 18th centuryin 1835, by the architect James Gillespie Graham as a meeting place for the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and in 1906, as a chapel for the Knights of the Thistlebut both proposals were rejected. Other chapels royal At the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace, a permanent chorus was created in 1868. The chorus, which sings on Sundays and major feast days, consists of 14 boy members and six gentlemen members. An organ was built in 1712 and, most recently, restored in 2013. In 2016, the King's Chapel of the Savoy in Westminster, London, which is the monarch's by right of the Duchy of Lancaster, was brought for ecclesiastical purposes within the jurisdiction of the chapels royal. Chapels with a royal original purpose, but currently without royal patronage, include the Royal Chapel of St Katherine-upon-the-Hoe in the Royal Citadel in Plymouth. However, in 1927, King George V re-granted the title royal chapel to the Garrison Church. Several other locations have formerly hosted the Chapel Royal, including the former Chapel Royal in Brighton. This was used by visiting royalty and as the primary chapel of ease to St Peter's Church. The chapel was formally separated from St. Peter's parish in 2010 and became a parish in its own right. Another former chapel royal was situated in Dublin, prior to the independence of Ireland in the 1920s. The Chapel Royal in Dublin operated within Dublin Castle, which served as the official seat for the lord lieutenant of Ireland. Buckingham Palace had a royal chapel designed by John Nash for Queen Victoria but it was damaged by enemy bombing in World War II and what was left was eventually incorporated into the Queen's Gallery. Canada at Mohawk Chapel in 1913. The sanctuary was designated as a Chapel Royal in 1904. 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. Mohawk Chapel in Brantford was designated as a chapel royal in 1904 by King Edward VII. The chapel served as the church for the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory and was designated as a chapel royal in recognition of the community's military service. The first two chapels royal are situated within Mohawk communities that were established in Canada after the American Revolutionary War. 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. St Catherine's Chapel is the first interfaith and interdenominational chapel royal and the only one with its own title in an Indigenous language. ==See also==