This chapel, located just off the Strand and not far from the Savoy Hotel, is historically very ancient, though most of the present building and its furnishings date to the period following a fire in 1864. It serves a small area of about five surrounding acres, which is known as the Precinct of the Savoy. This area was at one time occupied by the Savoy Manor, a grand residence on the riverfront originally owned by Peter of Savoy (an uncle of the queen) in the thirteenth century. It became associated with the House of Lancaster by being next owned by Edmund, first earl of Lancaster, brother of King Edward I.
Eventually the Duchy of Lancaster was united with the crown when Henry Bolingbroke, duke of Lancaster, became King Henry IV in 1399. Thus, it is a chapel of the present sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II (though not a royal chapel), through her right of the Duchy of Lancaster. In the fourteenth century Henry, first duke of Lancaster, built a fine palace on the property, which was used by his son-in-law John of Gaunt, son of Edward III and the patron of John Wyclif and Geoffrey Chaucer (see Medieval London). During the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381 the palace was plundered and burned, and for a long time it lay abandoned. In the late fifteenth century Henry VII provided in his will for a hostel for 100 poor men to be built on the site. This was quite a noble undertaking, with a splendid hall longer than Westminster Hall, and including three chapels, dedicated to St John, St Catherine and Our Lady. St John’s Chapel, probably consecrated in 1515, was the forerunner of the present Savoy Chapel. When the Hospital of the Savoy ceased to function after nearly two centuries and the buildings were put to other uses, the Savoy Chapel continued under various administrations. It remained even when the old buildings were cleared away in 1820–21.
The rebuilt chapel to be seen today survived the bombing, all except for some of the windows. It is entered off Savoy Street, which is on the river side of a set of buildings that face the Strand (including the Savoy Hotel). The interior is very attractively furnished, and there are numerous reminders of its association with the Lancastrians and the royal family, as well as the Royal Victorian Order of which it is the official chapel. The Savoy Chapel is noted for its music; there is a full choir of men and boys each Sunday except for August and September. The service is conducted ‘fully in the tradition of the Prayer Book and untouched by modern revisions’.