Dean of the Chapel Royal


The Dean of the Chapel Royal, in any kingdom, can be the title of an official charged with oversight of that kingdom's chapel royal, the ecclesiastical establishment which is part of the royal household and ministers to it.

England

In England, the Dean of the Chapels Royal was appointed by royal warrant and appointed its officers and staff. The office of dean has been by custom held by the Bishop of London since 1748. In practice, the chapel, its choir, and the various chapel buildings associated with it come under the oversight of the Sub-Dean, who is the Queen's residential chaplain.
As in 2019 the Chapels Royal in England consist of: The Queen’s Chapel; the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace; the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace; the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula ; the Chapel of St John the Evangelist ; and The Queen's Chapel of the Savoy.

Office holders

;Edward III
;Richard II
;Henry IV
;Henry V
;Henry VI
;Edward IV ;Henry VI
;Edward IV
;Richard III
;Henry VII
;Henry VIII ;Edward VI ;Mary I
;Elizabeth I
;James I
;Charles I
;Commonwealth
;Charles II
;James II
;William III
;Anne
;George I
;George II
;Elizabeth II
In Scotland, the title first appears in the fifteenth century, when it may have referred to a prebend in the church of St Mary on the Rock, St Andrews. In 1501 James IV founded a new Chapel Royal in Stirling Castle, but from 1504 onwards the deanery was held by successive Bishops of Galloway with the title of Bishop of the Chapel Royal and authority over all the royal palaces within Scotland. The deanery was annexed to the bishopric of Dunblane in 1621, and the Chapel Royal was removed to Holyrood.
The office of Dean was suppressed with the abolition of prelacy in 1689, and the revenues of the Chapel Royal reverted to the Crown. Grants from these revenues were made to individual Church of Scotland ministers and from 1727 onwards part was allocated to three royal chaplains, known collectively as the Deans of the Chapel Royal. Replacement of these chaplains by professors of the Divinity Faculties in the University of Glasgow, the University of Aberdeen, the University of Edinburgh and the University of St Andrews took place between 1860 and 1868. In 1886 the office of Dean was revived and united by royal warrant to that of Dean of the Thistle, eventually being separated in 1969. Under the 1886 royal warrant, the Dean is also titular Abbot of Crossraguel and Abbot of Dundrennan.

Office holders since revival

The Chapel Royal in Dublin Castle was the official Church of Ireland chapel of the Household of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1814 until the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1831, the principal chaplain to the Lord Lieutenant was usually styled Dean of the Chapel Royal.

Office holdersHugh Jackson Lawlor, ‘The Chapel of Dublin Castle, with Note on the Plate of the Chapel Royal’, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 13, no. 1 (1923), 34–73 (68–71).