The Queen has embarked on a massive project to restore the chapels of her royal residences ahead of next year’s Golden Jubilee celebrations. For the first time in a century each of the royal palaces will have a functioning place of worship.
A senior member of the Queen’s household said over the weekend: “This is the Queen at her most serious. It underlines her personal religious faith and her desire to make a public declaration of the continued significance of her role as an anointed monarch.”
The church renovations programme is part of the most ambitious building project to be undertaken by the palace since the five-year restoration of Windsor Castle, begun in 1992. However, the Queen has been adamant that the cost to the general public be kept to a minimum. The expenses are being borne by government, the commercial arm of the palace and six livery companies of the City of London.
A new private chapel at Buckingham Palace has almost been completed and work has already started on the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace. And over at Kensington Palace, where the late Princess Diana resided, the chapel is to be opened again 100 years after it was last used. The Princess used to attend a nearby Carmelite church in Kensington.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
