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HISTORY

St James's Palace was built between 1532 and 1540 by Henry VIII on the site of the Hospital of St James, Westminster. For over 300 years it was a residence of kings and queens of England.

Queen Anne brought the court to St James's in 1702 after the disastrous fire which destroyed the Palace of Whitehall in 1698. It has remained the official residence of the Sovereign, although since the death of William IV in 1837 the Sovereign has lived at Buckingham Palace. Foreign Ambassadors and High Commissioners are still formally accredited to the Court of St. James's for this reason.

It was in St James's Palace that Mary Tudor signed the treaty surrendering Calais. Elizabeth I was resident there during the campaign against the Spanish Armada and set out from St James's to address the troops assembled at Tilbury Camp. Charles I was confined to the Palace before his execution in January 1649.

There are two historic chapels in St James's Palace - the Chapel Royal and The Queen's Chapel. The conducting of services and the administration of the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace is the responsibility of the sub-Dean. This role was created in the 15th century and his responsibilities were to choose the music and anthems to be sung, authorise absences and prescribe penalties for minor offences that could be dealt with without recourse to the Dean.

In origin and still in principle, the Chapel Royal is not a building but an establishment; a body of priests and singers to serve the spiritual needs of the Sovereign. It was Henry VIII who constructed the present Chapel within St James's Palace.

The original Tudor Closet was a gallery on stilts, and it was here that Elizabeth I said her prayers for the defence of the Realm against the threat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, having chosen to remain at St James's Palace to receive messages of its progress by fire beacons from Cornwall. At the end of the Civil War, Charles I received the Sacrament of Holy Communion before crossing St James's Park to his execution in Whitehall in 1649. In 1997, the coffin of Diana, Princess of Wales lay before the altar where her family and friends could pay their respects in private, before the Princess's funeral in Westminster Abbey.

Alterations to the building were carried out in 1836 with the addition of the side galleries and a new ceiling with William IV and Adelaide to match the 1540 ciphers. The panelling dates from this time, and the pews were installed in 1876.

The Chapel Royal has always been considered to be the cradle of English church music, and among its many noted organists and composers were Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons and Henry Purcell - the latter lived in a suite of apartments in St James's Palace. The poet Dryden, who was frequently in debt, used to take refuge with Purcell in his apartments in order to avoid the clutches of persistent creditors.

One of the Chapel's most notable organists and composers was George Frederick Handel, who was appointed by George II on 25 February 1723 as 'Composer of Musick of His Majesty's Chappel Royal', a title carefully constructed to allow Handel, still a German citizen, to contribute to the musical development of the Chapel Royal without actually being a member of it. Handel composed the great anthem 'Zadok the Priest' for the coronation of George II in 1727 and it has been used at every coronation since. It is also sung each year at the Royal Maundy service in which the Queen distributes Maundy money.