Windsor Castle


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Other Pictures..
 

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Those photographs are simply amazing. Its definitely on my list of places to go should I ever get the opportunity to visit the UK. Windsor Castle is the epitome of centuries of a historic realm that has persevered through the years. No wonder its HM's favorite home.
 
And HMQ was there too...
 

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I was at Windsor about three weeks ago - they were just starting to put the Christmas decorations up!

I was totally stunned by the place. Buckingham Palace has a very dusty and "Dolls House" atmosphere in that it looks very much smaller than you imagine and it seems to exist for a particular purpose. Windsor is so much bigger and feels more friendly.

For those interested in such things, my sister was absolutely certain that HM uses those candles with Krispy Kreme scents because every room had the scent of fresh pastries. I tried to explain that I thought that was probably natural but she's insistent ;)
 
Gaudete said:
I was at Windsor about three weeks ago - they were just starting to put the Christmas decorations up!

I was totally stunned by the place. Buckingham Palace has a very dusty and "Dolls House" atmosphere in that it looks very much smaller than you imagine and it seems to exist for a particular purpose. Windsor is so much bigger and feels more friendly.

For those interested in such things, my sister was absolutely certain that HM uses those candles with Krispy Kreme scents because every room had the scent of fresh pastries. I tried to explain that I thought that was probably natural but she's insistent ;)
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Interesting observations. :flowers:

Regarding the candle scents: might they be burning beeswax candles? That would leave a heavenly scent (dependent on the flowers the bees gathered the pollen from, of course). :flowers:
 
I use beeswax candles (because I love the scent) but this was totally different. It really did smell like Krispy Kreme doughnuts :lol: I can't describe it any other way. But each room was slightly different. Some had a sort of chocolate croissant smell and others a more coconut cake sort of smell. Whether it was artificial or natural I don't know.

But my sister had great fun trying to find the coats of arms of the different Garter Knights. She doesn't know much about royalty but she's hugely fond of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their children. So she was dashing about the Great Hall finding numbers and matching them to the plaques on the wall!

Interestingly, King Felipe of Spain's coat of arms isn't up on the wall yet and his name hasn't been put on the roll with the rest of the Garter Knights appointed by the Queen - though his banner was in St George's Chapel. :flowers:
 
Gaudete said:
I use beeswax candles (because I love the scent) but this was totally different. It really did smell like Krispy Kreme doughnuts :lol: I can't describe it any other way. But each room was slightly different. Some had a sort of chocolate croissant smell and others a more coconut cake sort of smell. Whether it was artificial or natural I don't know.

But my sister had great fun trying to find the coats of arms of the different Garter Knights. She doesn't know much about royalty but she's hugely fond of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their children. So she was dashing about the Great Hall finding numbers and matching them to the plaques on the wall!

Interestingly, King Felipe of Spain's coat of arms isn't up on the wall yet and his name hasn't been put on the roll with the rest of the Garter Knights appointed by the Queen - though his banner was in St George's Chapel. :flowers:
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Re Felipe - is that because he is a stranger knight? Not one of the official 24. Was The King of Norway or Queen of Denmark on the roll?
 
cepe said:
Re Felipe - is that because he is a stranger knight? Not one of the official 24. Was The King of Norway or Queen of Denmark on the roll?
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The stranger knights were there. The Emperor of Japan, the Queen of Denmark, the King of Norway, Queen Beatrix. But no Felipe just yet.
 
Thank you for replying so quickly. How strange. The only other reason I can think of is that he hasn't been officially invested, that is ceremonially at Windsor.

Of course, maybe they just haven't got round to it! :ohmy:
 
It's a very strange arrangement because although the lists on the walls are in order, the coats of arms plaques aren't in any particular order. They're scattered throughout the Great Hall with little numbers underneath which you can search. And on the main lists (sorted by monarch), there's a number next to them which corresponds to the number underneath the plaque.

Which made me realise that although the banners of the German stranger knights were taken down during the wars (and those of the Japanese) in St George's Chapel, their plaques must have remained in the Great Hall.
 
The King of Spain hasn’t been formally Invested yet. Likely will take place next year.
 
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O-H Anglophile said:
When this idea was mentioned a few days ago, someone said The Earl of Wessex is already managing Windsor.
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The Duke of Edinburgh haven’t passed down this official role yet.
 
Dman said:
The Duke of Edinburgh haven’t passed down this official role yet.
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How would we know either way? As The Duke spends most of his time at Sandringham I can see it being the case.

Update: The website still lists the DOE, however I still believe Edward could be doing it without the title.
 
Lumutqueen said:
How would we know either way? As The Duke spends most of his time at Sandringham I can see it being the case.

Update: The website still lists the DOE, however I still believe Edward could be doing it without the title.
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We also know that Philip is spending quite some time at Windsor as he is regularly photographed carriage riding in Windsor Great Park - every other weekend it seems so he could easily still be doing the work as Ranger.
 
Lumutqueen said:
How would we know either way? As The Duke spends most of his time at Sandringham I can see it being the case.

Update: The website still lists the DOE, however I still believe Edward could be doing it without the title.
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I think Prince Philip will pass down the role soon. He still zip around Windsor and other estates and look after things. Right now, he’s still in charge.
 
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:previous: So lovely! Thank you An Ard Ri.
 
Here's a fifteen-minute tourist video of Windsor Castle (mostly exterior):

And an official Windsor Castle video from 2012:


A documentary about the restoration of Windsor Castle after the fire:

Prince Philip explains in the above video how the government did not want to pay for the restoration. So it was decided to open some of the state apartments in Buckingham Palace, as well as combining tourism proceeds for other parts of Windsor Castle, to help pay for the cost of restoration to the damaged areas of the castle. It was the area around the private chapel inside the castle that was the most damaged. It was discovered that a drapery standing too close to a hot light is what caught flame and caused the fire. There was renovation work going on in the castle at the time of the fire, which was why the hot light was accidentally situated too close to the drapes. It was also fortunate that where the fire started, many furnishings had been removed as part of an ongoing renovation.

The private chapel had to be completely restored, along with St. George's Hall (where receptions take place, including M&H's wedding reception in 2018. In addition, the photo-op for Archie took place in St. George's Hall on May 8, since rain scuttled the original plan to have the photo-op take place on the back steps of Frogmore House, where M&H had posed for one of their engagement portraits, and for one of their wedding portraits).
 
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And here's the famous documentary, Windsor Castle: A Royal Year, which was released in 2006. There's a section of this video in which Prince Philip discusses his redesign of stained glass windows inside the private chapel in Windsor Castle, after the 1992 fire:

 
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Dman said:
That’s a stunning State Entrance Hall. Such a shame Queen Victoria closed it and used it for storage. Thank goodness its now opened and people can see it.
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This explains how the space has been used over the centuries. I have never understood why Salvin made the changes he did. I think the entrance made far more sense north/south than east/west. The famous picture of Victoria & Napoleon III shows how the stairs were accessed before Salvin's alterations.

I like a lot of Salvin's work & I think his staircase hall at Windsor is magnificent & a great improvement on the rather unconvincing gothic work that it replaced but the stairs are definitely orientated in the wrong direction.

https://www.rct.uk/about/future-pro...er-hall-and-grand-staircase-at-windsor-castle
 
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