The chapel was founded as part of Peter of Savoy's palace which was destroyed during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The present chapel building commenced in the 1490s by Henry VII as a side chapel off the Savoy Hospital's long nave. The Savoy Chapel has hosted various other congregations, most notably that of St Mary-le-Strand whilst it had no church building of its own. Also the GermanLutheran congregation of Westminster was granted royal permission to worship in the chapel when it separated from Holy Trinity. The new congregation's first pastor, Irenaeus Crusius, dedicated the chapel on the 19th Sunday after Trinity 1694 as the Marienkirche or the German Church of St Mary-le-Savoy. Archibald Cameron of Lochiel, the last Jacobite leader to be executed for treason, was buried there in 1753. An Anglicanplace of worship, the chapel was noted in the 18th and 19th centuries as a place where marriages without banns might occur outside of the usual parameters of ecclesiastical law of that time. The Rev. Henry White was the chaplain of Savoy Chapel from 1860 to 1890 and might have set a record for officiating at the marriages of actors and actresses. It was referred to in Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited as "the place where divorced couples got married in those days—a poky little place". In 1755 Joseph Vernon married Jane Poitier here and the curate and vicar were transported for fourteen years for carrying out an unlicensed wedding. In 1908 it was the scene of a suffragette wedding between Victor and Una Duval. The wedding was attended by leading suffragettes and the wedding caused much debate because the bride refused to say "and obey", despite the intervention of the Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1939, it was announced by the office of the Duchy of Lancaster that the Savoy Chapel would be known as The King's Chapel of the Savoy. Many of the chapel's stained glass windows were destroyed in the London Blitz during the Second World War. However, a triptych stained glass memorial window survives which depicts a procession of angelic musicians. It is dedicated to the memory of Richard D'Oyly Carte and was unveiled by Sir Henry Irving in 1902; after their deaths, the names of Rupert D'Oyly Carte and DameBridget D'Oyly Carte were added.
Present
The chapel has been Crown property for centuries as part of the Savoy Hospital estate and remains under the aegis of the monarch as part of the Duchy of Lancaster and thereby is a Royal Peculiar. It was inaugurated as a Chapel Royal in November 2016. The chaplain is appointed by the Duchy and effectively it is the "parish church" of the Savoy Estate, the Duchy of Lancaster's principal London landholding. Armorialplates commemorating GCVOs past and present are displayed throughout the chapel; the Royal Victorian Order's present Honorary Genealogist is David White, Somerset Herald. Most of the chapel's costs and maintenance are met by the Duchy of Lancaster, with recent works including landscaping of its garden in honour of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2002 and restoration of the chapel ceiling in 1999. The chapel was further refurbished and a new stained-glass window commemorating the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II was unveiled by the Queen in November 2012. The Savoy Chapel uses the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and the King James Bible for worship. Services are held each Sunday, to which members of the public are welcomed, excepting occasional special events. The chapel is open for visitors from Monday to Thursday.
Music
Organ
The Chapel possesses a three-manual pipe organ, presented by Queen Elizabeth II, constructed to the specifications of the previous Master of the Music, William Cole and manufactured by J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd. The organ casework was designed by Arthur Bedford Knapp-Fisher. It was dedicated on 27 October 1965 at a service attended by the Queen to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the Duchy of Lancaster.
Organists
The current Master of the Music is Philip Berg ; the sub-organist is Justin Luke. Previous Masters of the Music include Henry Bromley Derry and William Cole.
Choir
The choir is rooted in the English cathedral tradition, and consists of up to 21 boy choristers and six professional gentlemen. The trebles are drawn exclusively from St Olave's Grammar School. Each year up to four prospective year-six pupils are selected to sing as trebles in the choir, with their place at St Olave's confirmed for the following year. Some choristers also join in year 7, during their first year at St Olave's. Chorister are expected to stay in the choir until their voices break and will attend rehearsals three times a week at school and once a week at the chapel itself. The boy trebles are known as Wakeham choristers in recognition of the 49 years of association that Michael Wakeham had with the Choir. The choir sings weekly Sunday morning services of either Eucharist or Matins, as well as those on Christmas and Easter Day. They also sing for various weddings, carol services and royal events throughout the year. London Choir School provided all the choristers to Savoy Chapel between 1915 and 1952.
In popular culture
The Savoy Chapel is mentioned in Evelyn Waugh's 1946 novel Brideshead Revisited where the venue for the marriage of Julia Flyte and Rex Mottram is discussed: "Oh, Charles, what a squalid wedding! The Savoy Chapel was the place where divorced couples got married in those days—a poky little place not at all what Rex had intended. I wanted just to slip into a registry office one morning and get the thing over with a couple of char-women as witnesses, but nothing else would do but Rex had to have bridesmaids and orange blossom and the Wedding March. It was gruesome."
