Royal Peculiar
A
Royal Peculiar (or
Royal Peculier) is a place of worship that falls directly under the jurisdiction of the
British monarch, rather than a
diocese.
It dates to
Anglo-Saxon times when a church could ally itself with the monarch and therefore not be subject to the
bishopric of the area. Later it embodied the relationship between the
Norman and
Plantagenet Kings and the
English church.
Royal Peculiars of the present day are:
*The
Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster (Westminster Abbey)
*
St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle (The Sovereign's Free Chapel of St George in the Sovereign's Castle of Windsor), along with the
Royal Chapel of All Saints, Windsor*
Temple Church*The chapels associated with the
Chapel Royal:
**The Chapel Royal,
St. James's Palace**The Queen's Chapel, St James's Palace
**The Chapel Royal,
Hampton Court**The Chapel of St John the Evangelist in the
Tower of London**The Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London
*
The Queen's Chapel of the Savoy*The Royal Foundation of St Katharine, In Ratcliffe,
London*The Royal Peculiar of
St Endellion,
Padstow,
Cornwall *The Royal Peculiar of
Heytesbury (St Peter and St Paul),
Warminster,
Wiltshire*The Royal Peculiar of
Middleham (St Mary and Alkelda),
Richmond,
North Yorkshire *The Royal Peculiar of
St Michael's College,
Tenbury (St Michael's and All Angels),
Leominster,
Herefordshire*The Royal Peculiar of the
Temple Church of St Mary
*The Royal Peculiar of
Lincoln's Inn *The Royal Peculiar of
Gray's Inn Of similar status are
The Queen's Chapel of the Mohawks,
Brantford,
Ontario, and
Christ Church, Her Majesty's Royal Chapel of the Mohawks, near
Deseronto,
Ontario,
Canada. They were long royal chapels, and were elevated to the status of a
Chapel Royal by
The Queen in 2004.
The
Chapel of St Edward, King and Martyr, Cambridge, is a College Chapel of
Trinity Hall,
University of Cambridge, rather than a Royal Peculiar.
*
Enclave*
Extra-parochial area*
Diocese of London - Cathedral and Royal Peculiars
