The Queen's Chapel is a Christian chapel in central London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 that was designed by Inigo Jones

Inigo Jones

Inigo Jones is the first significant British architect of the modern period, and the first to bring Italianate Renaissance architecture to England...

 and built between 1623 and 1625 as an adjunct to St. James's Palace

St. James's Palace

St. James's Palace is one of London's oldest palaces. It is situated in Pall Mall, just north of St. James's Park. Although no sovereign has resided there for almost two centuries, it has remained the official residence of the Sovereign and the most senior royal palace in the UK...

. It is one of the facilities of the British monarch's personal religious establishment, the Chapel Royal

Chapel Royal

A Chapel Royal is a body of priests and singers who serve the spiritual needs of their sovereign wherever they are called upon to do so.-Austria:...

, and should not be confused with the room known as the Chapel Royal in the main part of the palace, which is just across the road.

It was built as a Roman Catholic chapel at a time when the construction of Catholic churches was prohibited in England, and was used by Charles I

Charles I of England

Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...

's Catholic queen Henrietta Maria

Henrietta Maria of France

Henrietta Maria of France ; was the Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland as the wife of King Charles I...

. From the 1690s it was used by Continental Protestant courtiers. It was built as an integral part of St James's Palace, but when the adjacent private apartments burned down in 1809 they were not replaced and in 1856-57 Marlborough Road was built between the palace and the Queen's Chapel. The result is that physically the chapel now appears to be more part of the Marlborough House

Marlborough House

Marlborough House is a mansion in Westminster, London, in Pall Mall just east of St James's Palace. It was built for Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, the favourite and confidante of Queen Anne. The Duchess wanted her new house to be "strong, plain and convenient and good"...

 complex than of St James's Palace. It became a Chapel Royal again in 1938.

The Queen's Chapel was where, for several days, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother

Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon

Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...

's body was placed during the preparations for her lying-in-state in Westminster Hall.