The Guild

St Margaret’s Chapel Guild was founded in 1942. The Guild is a Scottish charity registered with the Scottish Charity Regulator. Its charitable purposes are to promote the knowledge and understanding of the life and works of St Margaret of Scotland and to follow her example in relation to supporting family life, piety, religious education, care of church buildings and tolerance amongst religious groups.

The original idea for the Guild came from the then Minister of the Canongate, the Very Reverend Dr. Ronald Selby Wright. Princess Margaret was its first patron, and it was led until 1958 by Lady Russell, whose husband had been instrumental in the Chapel’s restoration and re-dedication, and then by her daughter Mrs Margaret Anne Macaulay.

The Guild now has more than 300 members who meet annually on St Margaret’s Day for services in the Chapel, lunch and their annual general meeting. Donations are made annually to charities which reflect the values of St Margaret. A series of events are held throughout the year, including coffee mornings, visits to places associated with St Margaret, and pilgrim walks.

Not all of those with the name of Margaret who wish to be associated with the Guild live near enough to be able to take their place in the rota for placing flowers in the Chapel, or attend the celebrations on St Margaret’s Day. All members follow the same aims, receive the Guilds newsletter, and those members with geographical constraints are encouraged to place flowers in their own churches on St Margaret’s Day.

We are honoured to have as our Patron, HRH The Princess Royal.

St Margaret’s Day 2024 – Saturday 16 November

This year’s event was different because of the Guild’s participation in the Edinburgh 900 programme, which gave us an exciting opportunity to talk about the Guild to many more people. The AGM took place in the Canongate Kirk on Saturday 16 November and was followed by a well attended special service at 11.30 am to which we invited residents of Edinburgh to our St Margaret’s Day ‘Meet the Margarets’ service. We were pleased to welcome both schools and churches as well as the St Margaret’s Singers who performed two anthems.

You can listen to the service by clicking on this link below:

St Margarets Day Service 2024

Open the link in a new tab and then download it to your computer and open it.