Royal Peculiar

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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. The concept 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 reflected 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
• 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 Royal Memorial Chapel, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
• The Royal Foundation of St Katharine, in Ratcliffe, London

• The Queen's Chapel of the Savoy is Peculiar, but not Royal in the usual sense. It is exempt from any Bishop's jurisdiction, but is a private chapel of the sovereign in right of the Duchy of Lancaster, not the Crown.

• Of Royal, but not Peculiar, 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 considered royal chapels, and were elevated to the status of a Chapel Royal by The Queen in 2004; however, they are outside the Church of England, being part of the Anglican Church of Canada.

The following chapels of the Inns of Court are extra-diocesan, and therefore peculiars, but not Royal.

• The Peculiar of the Temple Church
• The Peculiar of Lincoln's Inn
• The Peculiar of Gray's Inn

[edit] See also

• Enclave
• Extra-parochial area

[edit] External links and references

• Diocese of London - Cathedral and Royal Peculiars
• Report of Review Group on the Royal Peculiars 2001