The Ecclesiastical Household is a part of the Royal Household of the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Reflecting the different constitutions of the churches of England and Scotland, there are separate households in each nation.

England

The Church of England Ecclesiastical Household comprises the College of Chaplains, and the associated Chapel Royal, the Royal Almonry Office, various Domestic Chaplains, and service Chaplains.

The College of Chaplains is under the Clerk of the Closet, an office dating from 1437. It is normally held by a diocesan bishop, who may however remain in office after leaving his see. The current clerk is Richard Jackson, Bishop of Hereford. The Deputy Clerk of the Closet, a new office dating only from 1677, is Paul Wright, Domestic Chaplain to the Sovereign and Sub-dean of the Chapel Royal and the sole full-time clerical member of the household. The sub-dean is assisted by Priests-in-Ordinary to the Sovereign.

The Clerk of the Closet is responsible for advising the Private Secretary to the Sovereign on the names for candidates to fill vacancies in the Roll of Chaplains to the Sovereign. He presents bishops for homage to the sovereign; examines any theological books to be presented to the sovereign; and preaches annually in the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace. He receives a salary of £7 a year.

Some three or four chaplains are appointed annually, and one is kept vacant for the sovereign's own choosing.

List of Chaplains in the Household in England

The College of Chaplains consists of those appointed chaplain to the monarch. They are honorary chaplains who do not fulfill any formal duties. They preach once a year in the Chapel Royal.

During the reign of Queen Victoria, there were 36 Chaplains-in-Ordinary and a number of honorary chaplains. A new appointment as chaplain would traditionally be made among the honorary chaplains. Upon his accession in 1901, Edward VII reduced the number of chaplains-in-ordinary to 12 and removed the prerequisite that a chaplain need previously have been appointed an honorary chaplain.

Chaplains appointed as a bishop or to other senior church positions leave the household.

Chaplains in Ordinary

Queen Victoria

  • Charles Wesley, D.D. 1847 - 14 September 1859
  • Augustus Frederick Phipps 18 June 1847 – 27 January 1896
  • John Barlow ? – 1867 (resigned)
  • Daniel Heneage Finch-Hatton 1866 – ?
  • Edward Meyrick Goulburn – 1866 (resigned, appointed Dean)
  • William Henry Brookfield 1 January 1867 – ? (replacing Goulburn)
  • James Moorhouse, Rural Dean, Vicar of Paddington 4 July 1874 – 1876 (resigned, appointed a bishop)
  • George Granville Bradley, 14 September 1876 – ?
  • William Henry Bliss, 8 November 1876 – ?
  • Henry John Ellison, Honorary Canon of Christ Church, Oxford, Vicar of Windsor 26 December 1879 – 25 December 1899 (deceased)
  • John Llewelyn Davies, Rector of Christ Church, Marylebone 10 February 1881 – ?
  • Thomas Teignmouth Shore, Vicar of Berkeley Chapel, Mayfair 20 September 1881 – 22 January 1902
  • Arthur Robins, Rector of Holy Trinity Church, Windsor 10 October 1882 – 1899 (deceased)
  • John Blakeney, Archdeacon of Sheffield, Prebend of York 3 January 1890 – 12 January 1895 (replacing Byng), (deceased)
  • Thomas Blundell Hollinshead Blundell, M.A., Rector of Halsall, Ormskirk 31 December 1895 – 1901
  • W. Rogers – 1896 (deceased)
  • James Welldon 1892 – 6 December 1898 (resigned, appointed a bishop)
  • Clement Smith, Rector of Whippingham, Isle of Wight 2 March 1896 – 22 January 1901 (replacing Rogers)
  • Charles Turner, Rector of St. Georges-in-the-East, London 21 April 1898 – 13 July 1898 (replacing Selwyn), (resigned, appointed a bishop)
  • Walter Lawrance, Rector of St Albans, Hertfordshire 13 July 1898 – ?
  • William Donne, Vicar of Wakefield 6 December 1898 – ?
  • Robert Henry Hadden 1 January 1900 – 22 January 1902 (replacing Ellison)
  • Frederick Hervey, Canon of Norwich and Rector of Sandringham 23 July 1901 – ?
  • Thomas Teignmouth Shore, 23 July 1901 – ?
  • Clement Smith, Canon of Windsor and Rector of Whippingham, Isle of Wight 23 July 1901 – 1910

Queen Elizabeth II

  • John Stott, 1959–1991, and, on his retirement in 1991, an Extra Chaplain

Honorary chaplains

Queen Victoria

  • John Cawston, Chaplain of the Fleet, dates unknown
  • William Henry Brookfield, Inspector of Schools 24 March 1862 – 1 January 1867
  • Henry Liddell, Dean of Christ Church 28 March 1862 – January 1898 (deceased)
  • George Protheroe 6 July 1865 – ?
  • Thomas James Rowsell, Rector of St. Christopher-le-Stocks, and St. Margaret's, Lothbury 20 January 1866 – 1869
  • Stopford Augustus Brooke 1 January 1867 – 1875
  • Edward Glyn, Vicar of Kensington 10 February 1881 – ?
  • John Blakeney, Archdeacon of Sheffield, Prebend of York 1886 – 3 January 1890
  • Alfred Ainger, Master of the Temple 28 January 1895 – 2 March 1896
  • John Henry Joshua Ellison, Vicar of St Gabriel's, Pimlico and Vicar of St John the Baptist Church, Windsor 28 January 1895 – ?
  • Owen Evans, Warden of Llandovery College 26 January 1900 – 22 January 1901
  • E. H. Goodwin, Chaplain to the Forces, first class 1 June 1901 – ? (in recognition of his services while Principal Chaplain to the South African Field Force)
  • Thomas Blundell Hollinshead Blundell, M.A., Rector of Halsall, Ormskirk 26 July 1901 – 1905, (deceased)
  • William Stuart Harris, M.A., Chaplain of the Fleet and Inspector of Naval Schools 26 June 1902 – ?

Queen Elizabeth II

  • Noël Jones 1983–1984
  • Ray Jones 1984–1989
  • T. J. Thomas-Botwood, MBE 1 July 2022 – ?

King Charles III

  • S. Ashley-Emery 9 September 2024 – present

Priests in Ordinary

Queen Victoria

  • John Swire

King Edward VII

  • H. G. Daniell-Bainbridge, 23 July 1901 – ?

Scotland

The King's Household in Scotland (Ecclesiastical) consists of chaplains who are all ministers of the Church of Scotland.

The current Dean of the Chapel Royal (since 2019) is Professor David Fergusson, who was also appointed Dean of the Thistle at the same time. Other members are the Dean of the Thistle (where held by another individual), and two Domestic Chaplains: the minister at Crathie Kirk (by Balmoral Castle) and the minister at the Canongate Kirk (by the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh). There are ten "Chaplains in Ordinary". Upon retirement the chaplains may be appointed "Extra Chaplains".

List of Chaplains in the Household in Scotland

Chaplains-in-Ordinary to the sovereign in Scotland

King George II

  • William Gusthart from 1727 to 1764

Queen Victoria

  • Robert Lee, DD 17 December 1846 – 1868
  • Norman Macleod ? – 1862 (deceased)
  • Archibald Watson, 2 May 1868 – 1881 in place of Robert Lee, deceased
  • Cameron Lees, 18 October 1881 - 1901 in place of Archibald Watson, deceased
  • Robert Herbert Story, 1886 – 1901

King Edward VII

  • Archibald Charteris, 18 October 1901 – 1908
  • Donald Macleod, 18 October 1901 – 1910 (in place of Charteris, deceased)

King George V

  • Donald Macleod, 7 May 1910 – 1916
  • Cameron Lees, 7 May 1910 – 1913 (in place of MacGregor, deceased)
  • Robert Howie Fisher, minister of Morningside, Edinburgh 25 July 1913 – ? (in place of Lees)
  • Alexander Miller Maclean, 27 October 1914 – 1925 (in place of J.R. Mitford Mitchell, deceased)
  • William Paterson Paterson, 10 March 1916 – 1936 (in place of Macleod)
  • John White, 8 August 1924 – (in place of Muir, deceased)
  • Archibald Main, Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History, University of Glasgow 29 May 1925 – 1936 (in place of Alexander Miller Maclean, deceased)
  • Norman MacLean, Collegiate Minister of St. Cuthbert's, Edinburgh 24 August 1926 – 1936 (in place of Wallace Williamson, deceased)
  • Alexander Martin, Principal of New College, Edinburgh. 8 November 1929 – 1936
  • Robert J. Drummond, 8 November 1929 – 1936 (in place of Donald Fraser)
  • Charles Warr, Dean of the Chapel Royal and Dean of the Thistle, 8 November 1934 – 1936 (in place of Robert Howie Fisher; extra Chaplain in 1934)
  • John White
  • William Paterson Paterson, 21 July 1936 – 1937
  • William Paterson Paterson, 2 March 1937 – ? (in place of Sir George Adam Smith, deceased)
  • James Hutchinson Cockburn, 24 November 1944 – 1952 (in place of John Stirton, deceased)
  • Andrew Nevile Davidson, 30 July 1946 – 1952 (in place of Alexander Martin, deceased)
  • John Baillie, 3 June 1947 – 1952 (in place of Archibald Main, deceased)
  • William White Anderson, 15 November 1949 – 1952 (in place of James Black, deceased)
  • John Henry Duncan, 31 October 1950 – 1951 (in place of Samuel Sibbald, deceased)
  • Thomas Bentley Stewart Thomson, 16 March 1951 – 1952 (in place of John Henry Duncan, deceased)
  • James Pitt Watson, 17 August 1951 – 1952 (in place of Robert J. Drummond, deceased)

Queen Elizabeth II

  • Charles Laing Warr 1 August 1952 – 9 December 1969
  • James Hutchison Cockburn 1 August 1952 – 1973 (thereafter Extra chaplain)
  • John Annand Fraser 1 August 1952 – 23 June 1964 (thereafter Extra Chaplain)
  • John Lamb 1 August 1952 – (Domestic Chaplain Balmoral) (in place of Thomas Thomson, resigned) thereafter Extra chaplain
  • Ronald William Vernon Selby Wright, 24 May 1963 – ? (in place of James Pitt Watson, deceased)
  • Henry Charles Whitley, 24 May 1963 – 1976 (in place of John Annand Fraser)
  • William Henry Rogan 1966–1978 (in place of James Stuart Stewart) thereafter Extra Chaplain
  • Robert Leonard Small 12 September 1967 – 1975 (in place of Edgar Primrose Dickie, retired) thereafter Extra Chaplain
  • W R Sanderson
  • William Morris 15 April 1969 – ? (in place of Nevile Davidson, retired)
  • George Thomson Henderson Reid 1969–1980 (in place of Charles Laing Warr, deceased)
  • James Boyd Prentice Bulloch 1980–1981 (in place of Reid, retired)
  • William Bryce Johnston 1981–1991 (in place of Bulloch, deceased)
  • Colin Forrester-Paton 18 September 1981 – 5 April 1988 (in place of Hugh Osborne Douglas, retired) thereafter Extra chaplain
  • Harry William Macphail Cant 1972–1991 (in place of Anderson Nicol, deceased)
  • Kenneth Macvicar 1974–1991
  • John McIntyre 1975-1986 (in place of Robert Leonard Small, retired)
  • Robin Barbour 1976–1991 (in place of Henry Whitley, retired)
  • Allan Young 1978–1979 (in place of Rogan, retired)
  • Gilleasbuig Macmillan 1979–2014 (in place of Young, deceased)
  • William Boyd Robertson Macmillan 5 April 1988 – (in place of Colin Forrester-Paton, retired)
  • James Leslie Weatherhead 11 April 1991 – 2017 (in place of Harry William MacPhail Cant, deceased)
  • Mary Irene Levison 11 May 1991 – 29 January 1993 (in place of RAS Barbour, retired) (thereafter Extra Chaplain)
  • Andrew Stewart Todd 1991 – ? (in place of MacVicar, retired)
  • Charles Robertson 1991–2010 (in place of Johnston, retired)
  • Iain Torrance 2001–2019
  • James Alexander Simpson 21 July 1992 – 2004 (in place of Alwyn James Cecil Macfarlane, retired)
  • Norman Walker Drummond 29 Jan 1993 – 2022 (in place of Levison, retired)
  • John Paterson ? – 2008
  • James Gibson 2004 – 2018 (afterwards extra Chaplain)
  • Angus Morrison 2006 – ?
  • Kenneth MacKenzie 2007 – ? (Domestic chaplain)
  • Lorna Hood 2008 – ? (in place of Paterson, retired)
  • Neil Gardner 2008 – ? (Domestic chaplain)
  • Alistair Bennett 2010–2022
  • Susan Brown 2012 – ?
  • John Chalmers 2013 – ?
  • Finlay Macdonald 2001–2015
  • David Fergusson 2015 – ?
  • Alastair Symington 1996–2017
  • George Cowie 2017–2021
  • James Gibson – 2018
  • Liz Henderson 2018 – present (in place of Gibson)
  • George Whyte 2019 – present
  • Dr Marjory Maclean 2022 – present (in place of Cowie, deceased)
  • Dr Grant Barclay 2022 – present (in place of Drummond)
  • Prof John Swinton 2022 – present (in place of Bennett)

Extra Chaplains-in-Ordinary to HM in Scotland

King Edward VII

  • Malcolm C. Taylor, 18 October 1901 – ?

Queen Elizabeth II

  • George Thomson Henderson Reid 1980 – ?
  • Kenneth Macvicar 1991 – ?
  • William Bryce Johnston 1991 – ?
  • Gilleasbuig Macmillan 2014 – ?
  • Iain Torrance 2019 – ?
  • John Chalmers 2022 – ?

King Charles III

  • Dr. Elizabeth Lorna Hood 2023 – present
  • Dr. Angus Morrison 2023 – present