Windsor Castle has been a royal home for nearly 1,000 years, which makes it the oldest continuously inhabited castle anywhere in the world. It is also the largest, covering thirteen acres, and it remains a working residence rather than a preserved ruin.
Why it is there
William the Conqueror built it in the 1070s as one of a ring of fortresses around London, each a day’s march from the next. Windsor was chosen for its position above the Thames and its proximity to a royal hunting forest. It began as a timber motte-and-bailey and has been rebuilt, extended and refaced by almost every monarch since.
What to see
St George’s Chapel
One of the finest examples of Perpendicular Gothic architecture in England, and the burial place of ten monarchs including Henry VIII, Charles I and Elizabeth II. It is also the chapel of the Order of the Garter, whose knights’ banners hang above the stalls. Harry and Meghan were married here in 2018.
The State Apartments
Furnished with works from the Royal Collection — Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyck, Canaletto — and open when not in official use. St George’s Hall, 55 metres long, is the great set piece, its ceiling carrying the coats of arms of every Garter knight since 1348. A handful of shields are blank: knights who were later disgraced, their arms scraped off but the space left as a permanent record of the fact.
Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House
The most unexpectedly wonderful thing in the castle. Built in the 1920s at 1:12 scale by the architect Edwin Lutyens, it has running water, working lifts, electric lighting, a wine cellar with real vintage wine in tiny bottles, and a library of miniature books specially written by the leading authors of the day.
The 1992 fire
A spotlight set a curtain alight in the Private Chapel and the fire burned for fifteen hours, destroying more than 100 rooms. The restoration took five years and £37 million, and the argument over who should pay for it led directly to two lasting changes: Buckingham Palace opening to the public to raise funds, and the Queen volunteering to pay income tax. Elizabeth II called 1992 her annus horribilis, and the fire was the reason.
Visiting
Windsor is about 40 minutes from London by train from Paddington or Waterloo, and easily done in a day. Check the flag: the Royal Standard means the King is in residence, in which case parts of the castle will be closed. The Changing of the Guard happens here too, and with far fewer people watching than in London.