The King’s Chapel of the Savoy is the Chapel of His Majesty The King in right of his Duchy of Lancaster and the Chaplain is appointed by The King. The chapel is one of the Chapels Royal in London, along with chapels at St James’s Palace, The Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace. The building you see today stands on an area of land given by King Henry III in 1246 to Count Peter of Savoy (uncle
to the King’s wife, Queen Eleanor) the name of whose homeland has become indelibly associated with this piece of land between London and Westminster. After the Count’s death, the manor was reacquired by Queen Eleanor and bestowed on her younger son, Edmund, Earl of Lancaster. In 1399 Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, became King Henry IV and declared the Duchy of Lancaster to be a personal prerogative of the Sovereign held separately from the other Crown lands. By the will of King Henry VII a great hospital for ‘pouer, nedie people’ was constructed on the site in the early sixteenth century. It had three chapels, of which the principal one, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, is all that now remains of the hospital. During the 1930’s John Davidson, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, (later Viscount Davidson) was directed by George V to oversee a comprehensive restoration of the building. The chapel remains in the care of the Duchy of Lancaster, whose stewardship can be seen in the excellent condition of the fabric today. On the occasion of his Coronation in 1937, King George VI commanded that the chapel should become the Chapel of the Royal Victorian Order. Membership of this Order is in the personal gift of the Sovereign. By the Statutes of the Order, the Chaplain of the chapel is ex-officio Chaplain of the Order. In 1957 and 1958 the ante-chapel (the Lancaster Hall), a Royal Robing Room and a Chaplain’s Office were built. A new three-manual organ was presented to the Chapel by Queen Elizabeth II in 1965 to mark the 700th anniversary of the foundation of the Duchy of Lancaster. In 2011 and 2012 a major building project created a new sunken courtyard and new offices. The chapel garden was re-landscaped in honour of The Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2002. A new stained-glass window was installed to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. And the Platinum Jubilee was marked with the planting of a Mulberry tree in the chapel’s garden; part of the Queen’s Green Canopy. The chapel has a fine musical tradition with a choir of six Gentlemen-in-Ordinary and choristers from St Olave’s Church of England Grammar School in Orpington. The chapel hosts a rich variety of services and concerts for associations and organisations throughout the year, the Chaplain and Steward give talks to visiting groups and clubs, and throughout the week welcome pilgrims and tourists alike. Members of the public are warmly welcomed at our services on Sundays at 11am and Wednesday at 12.30pm. Further information about the life of the chapel can be found at the website: www.RoyalChapelSavoy.org.
