Off To London To See The Queen Part 4......

Before we knew it Monday had dawned, our last day of sightseeing and our journey home.   Our first stop was The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead where we had about four hours to entertain ourselves before the return journey home.    The most famous place there is Windsor Castle so, of course, we had to do the tour.

Windsor Castle

The Castle was originally built by William The Conqueror at the end of the 11th Century.  It has been the home of 39 monarchs and is the oldest royal residence in the British Isles to have remained in continuous use.   Windsor Castle occupies 26 acres (10.5 hectares) with  951 rooms of which 225 are bedrooms.

Plan of Windsor Castle

In the above photo you can see the scale of the Castle and it's grounds and in the slide show below you will see the various places as we toured the Castle.

We weren't allowed to take photographs inside the Castle apartments so the following photos are courtesy of Google Images.   There are so many beautiful rooms in the Castle and items of interest it would be impossible for me to put them all in this post so I'm going to choose just a few to give you a taste of the splendour.

Grand Staircase

The site of the Grand Staircase was originally an internal courtyard known as Brick Court.  Jeffry Wyatville added the glazed gothic lantern roof, which survived the realignment of the staircase in the 1860s.  The trophies of arms and armour which line the walls are based on an arrangement for for William IV in 1830.  All visitors to the State Apartments, whether members of the public or heads of state, ascend this magnificent staircase to begin their tour. 

In the Grand Vestibule stands a marble statue of Queen Victoria which has been displayed here since it's completion in 1872.    Also displayed here is the musket ball that killed Lord Nelson.  He was struck in the left shoulder while on the deck of HMS Victory during the Battle of Travalgar in 1805.  The ball was removed by the ship's surgeon shortly after Nelson's death and made into a pendant locket which was later presented to Queen Victoria.

The Latern Lobby which was created after the 1992 fire on the site of the former private chapel, where th fire broke out, houses a magnificent suit of armour which belonged to Henry VIII.

The armour was made at Greenwich around 1540.  Several 'exchange' pieces to adapt the armour for the different exercises of the tournament are shown in the Queen's Guard Chamber.   The armour records the King's impressive proportions, which were quite exceptional in the sixteenth century.

We left the State Apartments and went out into the grounds again and down to the parade ground in the Lower Ward.  The soldiers on sentry duty within the precincts are drawn from the five regiments of Foot Guards (Coldstream, Genadier, and Scots, Irish and Welsh Guards), of which one battalion is always stationed at Windsor.   The Changing of the Guard routinely takes place at 11 am on the parade ground in the Lower Ward.   When the Court is in residence the ceremony takes place in the Quadrangle.    Luckily we were there just as the Changing of the Guard took place.

Then I just had to go and have my picture taken with one of the guards on sentry duty.

I asked him if he could possible crack a smile but he just gave a little chuckle without it showing on his face.

The five Regiments may be recognised by the grouping of buttons on their tunics and the Coldstream Guards grouping is twos, which is how we deduced that he was a member of the Coldstream Guards.

St. George's Chapel is also in the grounds of Windsor Castle.

We were not allowed to take photographs inside the Chapel so the following photographs are courtesy of Google Images.


Work on the present chapel began under Edward IV in 1475 and the east end or Quire (choir) was completed by 1484 with a wooden roof.  


The stone fan vaulting seen today was added shortly afterwards, by Henry VII, when the nave was also finished.   The chapel was finally completed under Henry VIII in 1528.  Medieval carved wooden stalls in the Quire are where the Knights of the Order of the Garter gather during their annual ceremony. The banners hang over their individual stalls and about 700 engraved and enamelled brass plates of former knights are attached to the backs of the stalls. In 2008, Prince William became the 1,000th knight of the order.   You can see a 360 degree tour of the Quire here showing all the banners and engraved plaques in all their glory.


St. George's Chapel also houses the tombs of King George V and Queen Mary. Anyone who has seen pictures of the British royal family in the early part of the 20th century will instantly recognise Queen Mary's distinctive hairdo in the carving. There is also an elaborate but rather moving carved memorial to Princess Charlotte, only child of King George IV, who died in childbirth.

The memorial is in a side chapel toward the back of the nave.   Also a side chapel, off the north Quire aisle, holds the relatively simple memorials of Queen Elizabeth II's parents (George VI and Elizabeth, the Queen Mother) and her sister, Princess Margaret.

A simple stone slab in the center aisle of the Quire is the entrance to a vault that holds the tombs of Henry VIII, Charles I (beheaded by Cromwell's forces, after the English Civil War) and Jane Seymour (Henry VIII's third wife, who died following the birth of Henry VIII's only son).

Our tour concluded and we exited the Castle to have some lunch (yes in a pub!) down this little street opposite the entrance to the Castle.

This lovely lady dressed in a crinoline was handing out leaflets.   A little further down the street we came across Nell Gwynn's house. 

Nell was the mistress of King Charles II, from 1670 until his death and lived either in Pall Mall in Westminster, London or Church Street in Windsor, in order to be near the King while at his palaces.

Windsor is full of 'olde worlde' buildings like those above and below.

Market Cross House

(The Crooked House of Windsor)

Unfortunately it was time for us to return to the coach for our journey home.  We thoroughly enjoyed our weekend (was it really only a weekend???) in London, I hope you did too.