ROYAL PECULIARS
9 Feb 2004 12:15 PM
Recommendations put forward by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer,
for the organisation, management and accountability of the Royal
Peculiars have been approved by Her Majesty the Queen.
Royal Peculiars are churches that are independent from normal
diocesan and provincial control and are answerable instead to a
Visitor. In March 2001, the Lord Chancellor's Department published
the Report of the Review Group on the Royal Peculiars of Westminster
Abbey, St George's Chapel, Windsor, and the Chapels Royal at St
James' Palace, Hampton Court and the Tower of London. This Report
formed the basis for Lord Falconer's proposals.
Lord Falconer said,
"I am very grateful to the members of the Review Group for the
excellent and thorough report they completed on the Royal Peculiars.
It has proved invaluable in enabling us to come to our conclusions,
which will provide independent accountability should any grievances
arise or mediation be required. "
The main recommendation is twofold. First an independent Assessor
should be appointed for each Royal Peculiar who could moderate and
consider grievances after all normal channels have been exhausted.
Under Lord Falconer's recommendations the independent Assessor would:
- provide advice to the Royal Peculiars on request. Others could
approach the Assessor with a grievance only if the Assessor classed
the complaint as serious and only after all normal channels had
been exhausted.
- act as a mediator between the Peculiars and others, or where there
was a specific grievance which needed to be aired. The Assessor
would not have the power of the Visitor to give determinations
binding on the parties, but would be able to make recommendations
to the Peculiars as to how a dispute could be resolved.
- be appointed by the Secretary of State now;
- be re-appointed every five years.
If the independent Assessor failed to mediate successfully in a
dispute, an ad hoc committee of Privy Counsellors could be brought
in. It would work like this:
- the complainant would go to the Visitor, The Queen, and say that he
or she was still not satisfied either with the advice of the
independent Assessor or the views of the Royal Peculiar. Only those
people who currently have access to the Visitor would continue to
do so.
- The Queen would then ask the Secretary of State for advice and, if
he considered it appropriate, he would then set up a Group of up to
three Privy Counsellors.
- The Queen would delegate her visitatorial jurisdiction to the
Chairman of the Group, who would accordingly have the power of the
Visitor to make binding determinations.
- The Group's ruling would be final.
Each Royal Peculiar will provide an annual report to Her Majesty The
Queen, including a copy of its accounts, via the Secretary of State
for Constitutional Affairs, setting out their stewardship of the
Peculiar and the events that have occurred during the year.
The recommendations, which have been welcomed by the Peculiars, will
be implemented as soon as practicable.
Notes for Editors:
1. Instead of being answerable to the Church of England, the Royal
Peculiars are accountable to a Visitor. In the case of Westminster
Abbey and the Chapels Royal, Her Majesty The Queen is the Visitor.
The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs
is the Visitor for St George's Chapel, Windsor. It is proposed, as
part of the abolition of the office of Lord Chancellor, to transfer
the Visitorship of St George's Chapel to the Crown, but acting on the
advice of the Secretary of State.
2. The Review covering the Royal Peculiars was sought in April 1999
by the Deans of Westminster, St George's Chapel, Windsor and the
Chapels Royal at St James's Palace, the Tower of London and Hampton
Court.
3. In 1999 Her Majesty appointed the following to the Review Group:
- Professor Averil Cameron CBE, Warden of Keble College, Oxford
(Chair)
- The Very Revd Raymond Furnell, the Dean of York
- Alderman Sir Brian Jenkins GBE
- The Rt Hon The Lord Lloyd of Berwick (Legal Assessor)
4. The Review was established with the following terms of reference:
'To review and report to Her Majesty The Queen, through the Lord
Chancellor, with recommendations, on the organisation, management and
accountability of each of Westminster Abbey, St. George's Chapel,
Windsor and the Chapels Royal responsible to the Dean of the Chapels
Royal, but without prejudice to their status as Royal Peculiars'.
5. The Review Group's Report was published on 5 March 2001 (see LCD
press notice 84/01). It is available on the Department for
Constitutional Affairs website:
http://www.dca.gov.uk/majrep/royalp.htm
6. The two principles governing the recommendations in the Report
were that:
- the independence of the Royal Peculiars from diocesan and
provincial control should be preserved.
- except in this respect, good practice already established in
equivalent institutions should be adopted.
7. Printed copies can be obtained from the Church House Bookshop in
London: http://www.chbookshop.co.uk
Justice, rights and democracy
Selborne House, 54-60 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6QW
W: www.dca.gov.uk