Royal peculiar

I learnt when I was watching the Royal Wedding this morning that Westminster Abbey is what is known as a 'royal peculiar'. Peculiar is a term used in the Church of England to denote a church, chapel, parish or ecclesiastical court that is exempt from the jurisdiction of the diocese where it is located, and thus of the bishop of the diocese. Instead, it is the monarch who has jurisdiction. Royal peculiars developed in the Anglo-Saxon period. Before Henry VIII founded the Church of England, the Abbey was a papal peculiar, but with the Act of Supremacy in 1559 the jurisdiction previously exercised by the Pope was transferred to the sovereign. See the Westminster Abbey website for a bit more detail.