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.

See also

• Enclave
• Extra-parochial area

External links and references

• Diocese of London - Cathedral and Royal Peculiars

Christianity | Churches | Religion in the United Kingdom | British monarchy