Chapel Royal

[3] The British 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 members of the choir.

Outside the United Kingdom and Canada, there is also another royal chapel, St. Peter's Church - Their Majesties Chappell, located in St. George's Parish, Bermuda.

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.

However, in the same year, the clerks petitioned the King asking that their number be increased to 24 singing men, due to "the grete labour that thei have daily in your chapell".

From the reign of Edward IV in the late 1400s, further details survive: There were 26 chaplains and clerks, who were to be "cleare voysid" in their singing and "suffisaunt in Organes playing".

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.

[7] In music, the Chapel achieved its greatest eminence during the reign of Elizabeth I, when William Byrd and Thomas Tallis were joint organists.

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.

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.

[11] 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).

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.

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.

[20] 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.

[24] The first two chapels royal are situated within Mohawk communities that were established in Canada after the American Revolutionary War.

[21] 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,[26] 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 [27] Their Majesties Chappell is located in St. George's Parish, Bermuda.

St. Peter's - Their Majesties Chappell stands as the oldest surviving Anglican church in continuous use outside the British Isles.