PLEASE NOTE: Because this is an active house of worship, there is NO PHOTOGRAPHY allowed inside and there are lots of folks around to enforce that prohibition.
St. George's Chapel is located in the Lower Ward of Windsor Castle, very near where the famous changing if the guard ceremony takes place.
It serves as the chapel of the Order of the Garter, and has deep and intricate ties to the Royal family, who live at Windsor palace.
Services are held at varied times depending on the time of year. A schedule is kept here: (
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From Wikipedia: (
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"Location Windsor
Country United Kingdom
Denomination Church of England
Churchmanship High Church
t George's Chapel is the place of worship at Windsor Castle in England, United Kingdom. It is both a royal peculiar and the chapel of the Order of the Garter. The chapel is governed by the Dean and Canons of Windsor.
The chapel is located in the Lower Ward of the castle, which is one of the principal residences of Queen Elizabeth II."
From the College of St George website: (
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"The College of St George is, at its heart, a community of people who live and work together to offer worship to God, prayers for the Sovereign and the Order of the Garter, service to society and hospitality to visitors.
The College was founded in 1348 at the same time as the Order of the Garter and now consists of St George’s School, St George’s House, the Military Knights of Windsor, the Chapter Library & Archives and the Choir as well as, at the centre, St George’s Chapel itself.
The buildings, owned and occupied by the College, take up a quarter of Windsor Castle together with the school buildings outside the north wall.
. . .
A short History of St George's
St George’s Windsor has a rich and varied history.
On 6th August 1348 Edward III founded two new colleges, symbols of his devotion and generosity to the church. These institutions, which were essentially communities of priests, were charged with celebrating divine service within the two political nerve centres of his realm.
The first of these was the College of St Stephen at Westminster Palace, the home of royal administration and justice. And the second was the College of St George at Windsor Castle, the seat of his authority in England's greatest royal castle.
Both colleges were constituted with a Dean and twelve secular priests, called canons, a numerical evocation of the number of Christ and his apostles. The Dean and each canon were also provided with a deputy, a vicar choral, who was responsible for singing services. Added to this group of twenty-six canons and vicars both colleges were also served by four clerks (professional singers), and six boy choristers besides a virger and two bell ringers. This composition directly compared to that of the Sainte Chapelle, the celebrated palace chapel of the French kings in Paris.
In each case Edward III's new colleges were founded in relation to existing chapels. At Westminster this was the chapel of St Stephen, a vastly elaborate building directly modelled on the Sainte Chapelle in Paris. But at Windsor the college was attached to the Chapel of St Edward the Confessor. This building, constructed by Henry III in the early 13th century, now underwent a radical overhaul and was rededicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, St George, England's patron saint, to whom the king had personal devotion, and St Edward the Confessor.
The rededication of the chapel to include the soldier saint George is to be explained in terms of the king’s particular circumstances. At this time Edward III was actively pressing his title to the French throne and had recently demonstrated his remarkable military capabilities against the French at the Battle of Crécy. St George was not only an appropriate patron saint for the successful prosecution of his political ambitions in France but also for the values of knightly virtue that the king so admired. And it was in reaffirmation of Edward III’s interest in these that he associated a group of knights with the college, the Order of the Garter. There were twenty-five Knights of the Garter with the king at their head, a number intended to mirror that of the Dean, canons and vicars of the college. Moreover, just as each canon of the college had a deputy, so each knight was to have his. A so-called Poor Knight who was intended to stand in as a deputy for daily religious observance.
The two colleges founded by Edward III were amongst the most important and prestigious in medieval England but their subsequent histories have been very different. The combined circumstances of the Reformation and the abandonment of Westminster as a royal palace led to the dissolution of St Stephen's in 1548. Its chapel survived, however, and served as the House of Commons until it was largely destroyed in the fire of 1834. But the Royal College of St George at Windsor continues to serve as home for the sovereign's principal order of chivalry, the Order of the Garter.
Royal Connection
The connection between the Royal Family and St George’s Chapel is a strong one. Members of the Royal Family have been baptised, married and buried in the Chapel.
The Queen is closely involved with the life of the College, attends Matins at the Chapel on Easter Day and attends an annual service of thanksgiving on Garter Day. There are many other times when the Queen and the Royal Family come to St George’s. In 2014, apart from Easter Day and Garter Day, The Queen & The Duke of Edinburgh attended a gathering in the Chapel to mark the 150th anniversary of the Royal College of Organists. During 2015 Her Majesty and His Royal Highness attended a Royal Victorian Order Service in April in addition to Services on Easter Day and Garter Day. The Duke of Edinburgh and The Duke of Gloucester attended a Service for The Rifles in the autumn of 2015. The Queen distributed Maundy money at the 2016 Royal Maundy Service which was held in St George's Chapel for the first time since 1959."