Published in Windlesora 23 (2007)
© WLHG
The Lay Stewards of St George’s Chapel were founded in their present form by Dean Robin Woods, at an inaugural meeting in the Deanery on 19th September, 1966. The phrase ‘in their present form’ is used intentionally because (here previously existed a small number of voluntary stewards who, on a rather informal basis, combined duties as Sunday Afternoon Stewards (the forerunners of the present Guild of Stewards) with, in the case of the male stewards, duties on Garter Day.At the inaugural meeting chaired by the Dean, were Canon Hawkins and two minor Canons, Revd Nourse and Revd Collins, together with sixteen of the old stewards, including the late Rear Admiral Davies, First Warden of St George’s House, the late Mr W Cleave, Headmaster of St George’s School and the author, who is the present Captain and who first undertook duties at St Cieorge’s in 1958 and is now the only one of this original group still serving. Mr F A Naylor, son of Mr Fred Naylor, a long serving Lay Clerk at St George’s, was appointed first Captain.
The badge of office consists of an enamelled Cross of St George surrounded by the Garter motto ‘Honi soit qui mal y pense’ suspended from a collar of Garter blue. This is worn for all duties.
The first official occasion on which the new body of Lay Stewards was on duty was the Service of Dedication of St George’s House, which was opened by The Queen, on 23rd October 1966, which contemporaneously with the Lay Stewards, celebrates its fortieth birthday in 2006.
Mr Naylor died in office in 1982 and was succeeded by Mr Patrick Manley, who served for ten years in that capacity and who retired in 1992, when the present Captain was appointed. Some years ago it was deemed expedient for a Vice Captain and a Deputy Vice Captain to be nominated. The current holders of these offices are, respectively, Mr Tim O’Donovan, a retired Lloyds Broker and former Honorary Secretary of the Friends of St George’s and Descendants of the Knights of the Garter and Mr Hugo Vickers, well known author, reviewer and broadcaster.
Minor adjustments to the terms of appointment have been implemented over the years, including the increase in the maximum number of Lay Stewards from 24 to 28 and the appointment now being by the Chapter rather than by the Dean alone. There are, in addition, currently seven Lay Stewards Emeriti, who have, in effect, retired but who are on hand from time to time for specific duties.
The requisite attendance of two Lay Stewards for each Sunday Matins and the Eucharist, in accordance with a rota prepared annually by the Captain, has, from the outset, constituted the regular routine duty.
The annual service of the Most Noble Order of the Garter attended in procession by The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Royal Kni ghts and the Knights and Lady Companions of the Order, is the most important occasion of the College year and its magnificent pageantry is well known the world over. For this service a full muster of Lay Stewards is expected with the exception of two of their number who take part in the procession as, respectively, Norfolk Herald Extraordinary and Fitzalan Pursuivant Extraordinary.
Another annual event is the St George’s House Lecture until recentlychaired by the Duke of Edinburgh and which has been delivered since 1978 by a succession of famed personalities including the United States Ambassador, Kingman Brewster, two Archbishops of Canterbury and HRH Crown Prince El-Hassan bin Talal. The Lectures in 1980 and in 1988 were given respectively by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and HRH The Princess Royal. On Sth June 2006, fifteen Lay Stewards were on duty for a special service attended by the Duke of Edinburgh in commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of St George’s House.
The Lay Stewards are also required en masse for the quadrennial Service of the Royal Victorian Order held in St George’s Chapel, the Order’s own Chapel – The Queen’s Chapel at the Savoy – being insufficiently large to accommodate all the members of the Order who apply for tickets.
The Lay Stewards are also called for duty for funerals of members of the Royal Family and of Garter Knights. All of these regal and patrician obsequies are of solemn grandeur. Amongst the most memorable was that of the Duke of Windsor, who died in Paris on 28th May 1972. The only public Lying-in-State ever to have taken place in St George’s Chapel, occupied two days and was witnessed by some 60,000 people, the queue at times reaching one mile in length. The Lay Stewards were charged with the marshalling of the crowds, besides removing and replacing the ropes every twenty minutes to facilitate the guard change around the catafalque. The third day was fully occupied with rhearsals for the funeral which took place on the fourth day in the presence of lmost all the Royal Family and the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.
Two years later came the funeral of the Duke’s brother, the Duke of Gloucester, followed by those of Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone in 1981,the Duchess of Windsor in 1986, Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester in 2004, closely followed two months later by that of Sir Angus Ogilvie. Especially poignant was that of Princess Margaret on 15th February 2002, attended as her last public engagement, by Her Majesty, The Queen Mother, who herself died less than two months later on Easter Saturday. The Queen Mother’s funeral took place in Westminster Abbey but four days later the Lay Stewards were occupied with a Requiem Evensong, during which large numbers of the public filed past the private chapel in the North Quire Aisle wherein both she and the ashes of Princess Margaret had already been interred in the grave of King George VI.
The Lay Stewards have officiated at a variety of memorial services, including those of the Garter Knights Field Marshal The Lord Templar, The Lord Hunt and The Lord Longford.
Many have been the more joyful occasions. On 18th July 1982 Lady Helen Windsor, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Kent, was married in the Chapel, the first Royal Wedding there for over eighty years. On 21st April 1986, a service attended by many of the Royal Family marked The Queen’s sixtieth birthday. The Lay Stewards were present in force for the weddings of the Earl and Countess of Wessex on 19th June 1999 and for that of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall on 8th April 2005. In a letter following the latter event, from the author to Their Royal Highnesses acknowledging gifts of wedding cake in commemorative boxes distributed to all the twenty five Stewards on duty, he commented ‘the Service was magical and memorable and the precision admirable – unlike that at the St George’s wedding of King Edward VII whereof it was said “The bride was ten minutes late but was seldom ever again to be so punctual“.
Lay Stewards of St George’s Chapel on the West Steps of the Chapel on Garter Day, 17th June 1991. Also in the picture is a company of the Gentlemen At Arms who were rehearsing the positions which they take up at the end of the Service. Photograph reproduced by kind permission of Stan Kingsley-Jones.
On 4th July 1997 to celebrate the Golden Wedding of The Queen and the luke of Edinburgh, the Chapel played host to three hundred and seventy five couples from Berkshire, who celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversaries at the same time. On 30th June 2000, Princess Margaret was present at a Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication marking the demise of the Princess Margaret Royal Free School. In November the same year there was an unusual confirmation service held by the Maidenhead Deanery and another unique occasion was a Christingle Service, organised by the Children’s Society on 24th November 2000. In all of these important events the Lay Stewards played their part.
In this year of 2006 on St George’s Day, the entire body of Lay Stewards was on duty and six of the Emeriti were present at a splendid service to mark The Queen’s eightieth birthday. The Lay Stewards were subsequently honoured by The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh with whom, to mark their fortieth anniversary, they were photographed as a group in the Crimson Drawing Room.
In addition to all these grand events, the Lay Stewards are required for installations of Deans and Canons; of Minor Canons and Military Knights as well as other members of the College. They also attend the laying up of banners of deceased Knights of the Garter. One of the most moving of these occasions was the presentation of the Banner of Earl Mountbatten, murdered by the IRA in 1979, attended by many members of his family, including those badly hurt by the Mullaghmore bomb, still burdened with their injuries.
Morning dress is compulsory for any service attended by a member of the Royal Family and is usually worn for funerals of Military Knights, the laying up of Garter banners, Remembrance Day, Christmas Day, the September Obit and the installation of a new Dean. Medals are worn generally when The Queen is present and occasionally at other times. Lay Stewards are available to assist at Westminster Abbey if needed, although they have to date not been called upon under this rule.
Lay Stewards meet together with their spouses occasionally for dinner or receptions, although the original practice of holding an Annual General Meeting has been discontinued as unnecessary.
The over riding obligation of a Lay Steward is ‘to provide a Christian welcome to the Chapel, appropriate to the occasion or service; to direct worshippers with courtesy to their seats; to offer help and information to worshippers and visitors and to take collections in the Nave when required’. Appointment as a Lay Steward is rightly regarded as a considerable privilege and all the Lay Stewards in consequence take pride in the exemplary performance of their several duties.
Windsor Local History Group 