This morning we decided it was time to do some organizing of activities. We have been setting aside things because of the rainy weather, but we are starting to realize that the days are numbered. There are 3 things we know we wish to do and today we will be doing one of them – going to Windsor Castle. The other two events need to be booked and arranged so we bite the bullet and spent time this morning getting things organized. We are committed regardless of weather now.
Windsor Castle is not hard to get to by train, so we headed out to make the trek. We arrived at the Windsor terminal (which had an old steam engine on display) and walked the 5 minutes towards the castle. It really was not hard to find, just look up.
As we got near the front entrance we noticed a lot of people lining up on the street, so I asked what was happening. The changing of the guard was to occur in a few minutes so we lucked out at being there to watch the changing of the guard. This basically meant we watched a marching band lead a small troop of red coated security guards on a march down the road to their barracks. However, it is one of the things everyone suggests needs to be seen while in London.
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it has been used by a succession of monarchs and is the longest-occupied palace in Europe. The castle includes the 15th-century St George's Chapel, considered by historian John Robinson to be "one of the supreme achievements of English Perpendicular Gothic" design. More than five hundred people live and work in Windsor, making it the largest inhabited castle in the world.
Originally designed to protect Norman dominance around the outskirts of London, and to oversee a strategically important part of the River Thames, Windsor Castle was built as a motte and bailey, with three wards surrounding a central mound. (The moat itself has never had water because of the chalk rock below obsorbs any water put into it.) Gradually replaced with stone fortifications, the castle withstood a prolonged siege during the First Barons' War at the start of the 13th century. Henry III built a luxurious royal palace within the castle during the middle of the century, and Edward III went further, rebuilding the palace to produce an even grander set of buildings in what would become "the most expensive secular building project of the entire Middle Ages in England". Edward's core design lasted through the Tudor period, during which Henry VIII and Elizabeth I made increasing use of the castle as a royal court and centre for diplomatic entertainment.
Queen Victoria made minor changes to the castle, which became the centre for royal entertainment for much of her reign. Windsor Castle was used as a refuge for the royal family during the bombing campaigns of the Second World War and survived a fire in 1992.
The Most Noble Order of the Garter is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England, founded in 1348. The Order is dedicated to the image and arms of St. George as England's patron saint, and is presently bestowed on recipients from British and other Commonwealth realms; after peerages, it is the pinnacle of the honours system in the United Kingdom. Membership in the order is limited to the Sovereign, the Prince of Wales, and no more than twenty-four members, or Companions. Bestowing the honour has been described as one of the Monarch's few remaining truly personal, executive prerogatives. In the Jubilee Garden is a gazebo with a representation of the Order of the Garter coat of arms embedded.
From here we walked to the main entrance to Windsor Castle (I think it was called King Edward’s Gate) so we could view the center Quadrangle and the buildings on the far side. From our vantage point (through the bars of course) we could see the State Apartments. We then walked around through the Moat Road t view the junction at the middle ward. From this vantage point we could see down into the lower ward where St. George’s Chapel is found and later today went visited it. For now we continued on our tour around the moat to the Norman Gate. I should point out that the tower (or Keep) was not available for touring but the moat has been converted to beautiful gardens – also not available today.
We entered the castle through the Norman Gate, which has the last remaining latticed style gate (not lowered now due to age) and the ‘death holes’. Once we entered and walked past the private entrance to the Palace’s Governor who is in charge any time the Queen is not in residence. Speaking of which if the Royal Flag is flying over the tower the Queen is in residence and when it is the Union Flag flying, she is not. The Royal Flag was flying today. Apparently the Queen considers this to be her ‘home’ and spends most of her time here. Buckingham Palace is considered by her to be the “office”.
From the vantage point we had a new angle to see into the palace across the Quadrangle. On the far corner from us is the Entrance to the Queen’s apartment – her front door. Nope, we did not see the Queen but I am sure if she had been told we were there she would have stepped out to say hi. We did, however; manage to see a changing of the guard for the guards in the quadrangle. Apparently the guards only have a 2 hour tour of duty before they are relieved. Considering they are not allowed to have any expression, minimized movement and concentrated responsibilities, 2 hours is likely enough at one time.
Our next step was to head through King Henry VIII’s gate to find the Northern Terrace with the fantastic views and the cliff drop (only a150 feet or so).
At this point we lost the tour guide so we continued our tour by heading into Queen Mary’s Doll House display. Obviously this doll house was not played with by children. The Doll House was a gift to Queen Mary and had contributions made by famous arts of the day. The details was incredible and the quality was very high.
We continued our tour by touring the State Apartments. This sequence of rooms was created for Charles II and Catherine of Braganza between 1675 and 1678 and reflects the baroque tastes of the times. They are always open to the public and display some of the greatest treasures of the Royal Collection.
The King's Drawing Room: Paintings by Rubens and Van Dyke and a remarkable musical clock.
The King's Bedchamber: Charles II never slept in this bed, used for the courtly ceremonies of levée and couchée - wakey wakeys and nighty nights before the King actually retired to a smaller room nearby.
The King's Dressing Room: Some of the most important Northern Renaissance paintings in the Royal Collection, including Breughel's painting the Massacre of the Innocents and a wonderful portrait of a lady in green by Bronzino.
The Queen's Drawing Room: Among the paintings is the famous Portrait of Charles I in three positions by Van Dyke.
The King's Dining Room: Created for Charles II's private entertaining, it is dark and masculine, covered in rococco decoration and wood carvings by Grinling Gibbons.
The Queen's Ballroom: Among the collection of Van Dykes, look for the portrait of the five eldest children of Charles I, the King beheaded in 1649.
St. George's Hall: Often used for state banquets, this room is 185 feet long and can hold a table that seats 160. The ceiling has a new hammer beam roof, constructed of green oak after the 1992 fire using medieval carpentry methods. The shields are coats of arms of the Garter Knights. The plain white ones - marked the Order of the Garter Knights disgraced by crime or treason.
The Lantern Lobby: Formerly a private chapel, this is where it is believed the 1992 fire began. Today it is used to display gilded silver objects from the Royal Collection. A suit of Henry VIII's armor against a wall gives some idea of the old king's size.
The rooms were badly damaged in the 1992 fire but most of the contents, removed earlier during rewiring, survived. The glittering gilded ceilings are remarkable restorations. In some cases, elaborate parquet flooring that had been charred was saved by simply turning over the individual pieces of wood.
After the State Apartments we headed back down to the Lower Ward to have a look at St. George’s Chapel. St George's Chapel is the place of worship at Windsor Castle in England, United Kingdom. It is both a royal peculiar and the chapel of the Order of the Garter.
The chapel has been the site of many royal weddings, particularly of the children of Queen Victoria. The chapel has also been the site of many royal funerals and interments. Amoung the noteable for burial are: Queen Jane Seymour in 1537; King Henry VIII in 1547; King Charles I in 1649; King George VI in 1952; Princess Margaret (ashes) in 2002; and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in 2002. We finished our day by returning to our hotel, going for dinner and relaxing.
I discovered that the pictures we took yesterday of us standing on the meridian line somehow got lost. I am not sure what happened, but I suspect I accidently did not copy them from the camera and since I delete my pictures after copying them to the computer, they are lost. I had to find a couple sample pictures from the internet to put in the blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment