The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy Supports Classic FM Charity Fundraiser

The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy took part in a charity fundraising event at the start of the month as one of the venues chosen for an impromptu ‘pop-up’ recital by Classic FM and Pointless presenter Alexander Armstrong.

In aid of Global’s Make Some Noise, which seeks to improve the lives of disadvantaged people by supporting small and local charities across the UK, the broadcaster and classical singer challenged himself to perform 24 concerts in 24 hours. He and his celebrated bass-baritone voice rose to the challenge, achieving a World Record in the process and raising over £60,000.

At The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy, Alexander joined three of the Chapel’s gentlemen singers to perform a setting of the Nunc Dimittis and Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus.  The Chapel’s Master of the Music, Philip Berg MVO, began the concert with an organ recital and the Sub-Organist of the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace, Martyn Noble, also gave a recital and then accompanied the choral pieces, with Philip conducting.

Commenting on the event, the Chaplain, The Reverend Canon Thomas Woodhouse said: “We are immensely proud of The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy and were very pleased to be able to support such a worthy cause. So many people have struggled over the last year or so and it was wonderful to be able to bring live music back into the building and to see the pleasure and comfort it provides. The combination of a beautiful setting, inspirational music and perfectly attuned voices is a joy to us all and reminds us of the long choral and musical tradition of this historic Chapel and of the broader church.”

The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy dates to the 16^th century and was originally built as part of a charitable foundation under the terms of the will of King Henry VII. It forms part of the historic Savoy Estate owned by the Duchy of Lancaster since 1284. As part of the Duchy, the building is a private chapel belonging to the Sovereign and in 1937 King George VI commanded that it should serve as the chapel of The Royal Victorian Order established by Queen Victoria in 1896 as a method of recognising service to the Sovereign and other members of the Royal Family.

In 2016 The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy also became part of the Chapels Royal alongside chapels at Buckingham Palace, Hampton Court Palace, St James’s Palace, and the Tower of London.

Although it remains a private chapel, members of the public are invited to visit The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy and to attend Sunday services. For more information, please visit the website www.royalchapelsavoy.org.