Windsor Castle

The last official day of the tour we headed out to Windsor Castle. Alison was back on the bus along with Christopher Warwick, a royal historian. Christopher gave a talk about Windsor and all its residents with more of an emphasis on more recent history. He wrote the authorized biography of princess Margaret, the current queen’s sister. He worked closely with Princess Margaret while writing the book and had a lot of interesting stories that he shared throughout the day.

Our first stop was a guided tour of St George’s Chapel. When I say chapel I really mean large cathedral type church but since it was just the church for the residents of the castle it goes by the misnomer of chapel. They spend some time trying to break us into four groups but being all historians they do a horrible job of it. However that worked to my advantage this time. I got stuck in the middle of a row and didn’t get placed in any group. Turns out there were a few of they missed and we made up the very small fourth group. Each group got a historian but we got both Alison and Christopher with us. Altogether we were a group of 7.

Our tour guide did a great job. He really knew his stuff but also asked questions of Alison and Christopher to bring more of the story to life. One of the first things we saw was the medieval stained glass window at the back of the church. It depicted saints, popes and kings. There are 75 figures displayed in the glass and 65 date prior to 1509. Otis amazing to thing that glass has survived that long. They took it down and stored it during WWII but just taking it down and getting it back up without damage is incredible. I lose at least one Christmas ornament each year good thing their better at their jobs that I am.

The next thing we saw was a beautiful statue to honor Princess Charlotte. If any of you are watching Victoria on PBS, Charlotte was Victoria’s older cousin, daughter of the king, who died in childbirth leaving Victoria the heir. Charlotte was well-loved by the people and the statute has her rising to heaven with an angel carrying her baby. Christopher knew a lot about the story and explained that she was Lin labor for 2 days before losing the baby. Then the doctors continued to have her drink wine to strengthen her blood but all that did was make her bleed out. The world would probably have been very different had she survived. If nothing else the Victorian age would have a new name.

Christopher was not a big fan of Victoria and said she was bitch to her children. But then her mother had been horrible to her so she didn’t have the best example.

Back to the tour. As with most churches of this age the Chantries off to the side were used for tombs. We had special access to go in one from the Tudor time period. I cannot remember whose tomb/memorial they were but the carvings were amazing. There was so much detail even the headdress was carved with an intricate flower pattern. Alison was more excited than we were. She said she had often peered in the windows to see the carvings but had never been in to see them close up. She kept going on and on and pointing out each new detail she saw. She was like a kid in a candy store. So I guess you never do lose the excitement for history even when you do it for years and think you have seen everything.

The next chantry is where Queen Elizabeth’s parents are buried. There was no elaborate carving just a marble plaque on the ground. Princess Margaret’s ashes are also buried in the chantry. Christopher said when they buried the Queen Mum they added Margaret’s ashes. Christopher said she really wanted to be near her father that she absolutely adored. He also said that the queen and Philip would also be buried in the chantry. The tour guide said he was not allowed to give that information but Christopher said that the Queen had told him and he had no such restrictions.

The highlight of the tour came next. Our guide took us through an office and up some stairs that led to a chapel originally built and used by Katherine of Aragon the window looking out over the Quire (I always thought it was just choir but I should have known the English would be all fancy). From Katherine’s time forward all monarchs used the room to watch the proceedings down below. Victoria used to watch her son and heir marry his queen. Speaking of Victoria when she was older (and fatter) she didn’t like to go out in public so she had them create a walkway from her private lodgings in the castle to the chapel. They built two doorways and a walkway across the roof of the church. Our group being so small got to walk out on the roof and see the entrance to her rooms. The handrail hit me right about my knees. Having been placed for the convenience of the Queen who at this time in her life had shrunk to 4’6” it was quite low for modern standards. And yes Christopher did point out that she was as round as she was tall at this point in her life. It was very exciting to walk the path that Victoria took to church when staying at Windsor we also got to see the backside of the stained glass garden right up close which was amazing in its own way.

From there we headed back down and rejoined the rest of the crowds walking through the church. The chapel is also the home of the Order of the Garter. I mentioned and had pictures of the Garter crests that were used above the seats back at Layer Marney. This is where they came from and actually they look way out-of-place in a church. Up in the quire area each seat, 26 in total, is set for the current Order member. Above the seat is their flag and their crest resting on their helm. Each seat also has a stall plate for each Knight that held that seat. Some date back to the 1500’s and more recently like Winston Churchill. William is currently a knight of the order but Harry is still waiting his turn. He cannot be named until someone else dies and a seat comes open.

The knights of the Garter also seem to guard the royal vault or otherwise known as the tomb of kings. Henry VIII, Charles I, George III, IV, and William IV are all buried there. Along with wives and some of their children.

From the Quire we headed out to Albert’s chapel Victoria went all out on his resting place. It has the look of St Marks in Venice or the Baptistery in Florence. It also had small portraits of all her children(9 in all) looking down from various spots along the wall. I guess she wanted them to keep their father company or keep him out of trouble. It is all gold mosaic generally you can only look in from the door but when you are with Alison they roll out all the stops.

The tour of the chapel was amazing and probably one of the highlights of the trip.

The rest of the morning we had free time to see the other sites of Windsor and grab lunch. We breezed through the state apartments rather quickly. I had been before but val seemed okay with it. Of course the rooms here are grander than any I have seen. The rooms are large enough to make two life size knights on horseback look like toys. The chandeliers rival those in Versailles and Buckingham Palace but look a little out of place with some of the stone castle walls that were left present in some of the rooms. We really didn’t spend much time looking everything over. We had shopping to do and photos to take.

After the state apartments we went through the grounds taking photos. We came across the cutest group of girls on a class field trip. They all had on matching navy coats and Berets. I tried to take a picture without looking like some weird person so they are not great but I’ll include them anyway. They gave a very British feel to the place.

We had a little time to shop before we headed back down to meet up with everyone. As we left Windsor we met back up with Alison and Christopher who continued to give us royal insight. He showed us the building that was originally built as a bathroom for the royals to use just as they left the train. Victoria and her children also used it to hide from the public while waiting for a visitor to arrive.

Sadly back on the bus one last time to head back to London. Alison, Sarah and Nicola had a discussion about the women rivals for Elizabeth’s crown. It is crazy that back in the 1500s everyone who had a connection/claim to the throne was a women. Elizabeth held on tight for almost 50 years to then pass it to a man. I wonder if things would be different if another women would have followed after her.

We arrived back in London where we started the Kingsway Hall Hotel. We had afternoon tea while they unloaded the bus. It was sad to say goodby to everyone. Some would be doing the add on day tomorrow but for others including our historians this was the big finale. I really enjoyed getting to know people who spend their lives studying and writing about our history. To some extent I guess I was surprised they were so normal. I think I expected them to be out of touch with today since they spent their lives delving through the past. They were so much more fun than I expected and I am really glad I splurged for the tour

Val and I were on our own for the evening and headed out to the Potrait Gallery. By the time we arrived we realized how tired we really were and that we were really just trying to keep the trip going. We went through the Tudor room and enjoyed seeing everyone we had heard so much about over the trip. The gallery had a lot more to offer but we were too tired to enjoy it so we didn’t stay long.