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Wikipedia / Chapel Royal

Chapel Royal is a designation given to certain chapels and churches with links to the monarchy, predominantly in England and Canada. In the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, the Chapels Royal is the name of a department in the Ecclesiastical Household, staffed by Anglican clergy, church musicians, and the officers of the Vestry (who function as vergers). According to the official website of the Royal Family, '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'.

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.

As of 2019 the Chapels Royal in England are: the Chapel Royal and the Queen's Chapel (both at St James's Palace); the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace; the Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula and the Chapel 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, the chapels royal have played a significant role in the musical life of the nation, with composers such as Tallis, Byrd, Bull, Gibbons, and Purcell all having been Gentlemen of the Chapel.

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; this reputedly is the oldest continually-used Anglican church in the Western Hemisphere.

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 with George I in 1714, with the same result. The idea of 'chapel royal' signifying a place, rather than a company of people, 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 formula remains in use—for both the dean and the sub-dean—to this day). 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 choir having been disbanded during the war), 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, in modern times, 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.

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 three 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.

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.

Duties and activities

The choir 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. On Remembrance Sunday they sing at the Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, where the dean usually officiates. On Maundy Thursday each year, they attend the monarch at the Royal Maundy service, combining 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, state and ceremonial royal funerals, jubilee services of thanksgiving, royal weddings, etc. (on these occasions they likewise usually combine with the choir of the abbey or cathedral where the service is taking place).

History

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 trebless 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.

The Chapel increasingly took on another, unofficial function that grew in importance into the 17th centuryperforming 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.

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.

Locations

Bermuda

Their Majesties Chappell is located in St. George's Parish, Bermuda. It was first designated as such in a royal warrant dated 18 March 1697 during the joint reign of King William and Queen Mary, and reconfirmed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 18 March 2012. St. Peter's - Their Majesties Chappell stands as 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 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.

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.

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.

Two patronised chapels royal almost never attended by the monarch are the Chapels of St John the Evangelist and St Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London, which has its own chaplain and choir. In 2012, Roger Hall, the Chaplain of the Tower of London, was made canon of the Chapel Royal at the Tower of London, the first such appointment since the 16th century.

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.

Former chapels

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.

Private chapels

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.

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 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.

See also

Bibliography

  • "London (i), §II, 1: Music at court: The Chapel Royal", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 16 September 2004), Grovemusic.com

  • The Buildings of England, London 6: Westminster (2003) page 587.

  • "Blow, John." Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 13 December 2006), Grovemusic.com

  • "Purcell." Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 13 December 2006), Grovemusic.com

References