Windsor Castle

kgreen20 · #1 10-03-2006, 10:19 PM

This may sound like a silly question, but I've been wanting to know for a while now. (As I'll probably never get to find out the answer for myself, by actually visiting Windsor Castle, this is the only other way I have of learning what I seek to know.) Can anyone tell me what floor the State Rooms and the Semi-State Rooms are on, in that castle? Are they on the first floor (I know that, in Great Britain, it would be called the ground floor--I'm using the term we Americans use.) Or are they on the 2nd floor, as we in the USA would call it?

Definitely appreciate any info anyone can give me on this subject! Thanks.

Yours truly,
Kathy G.

kgreen20 · #2 10-14-2006, 12:25 AM

I guess no one knows. Too bad! =(

Elspeth · #3 10-14-2006, 12:46 AM

Sorry - someone did answer, but they did it with a hotlinked photo, so the post was deleted. I remember having to go up some stairs to get there, and the view out of the windows of some of those state rooms on the Windsor tour was definitely a view from a higher floor than the ground floor, but I'm not sure exactly how many floors up they are. Of course, with the very high ceilings in those rooms, you could be one floor up from the ground floor and think you were much higher upm

kgreen20 · #4 10-15-2006, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elspeth

Sorry - someone did answer, but they did it with a hotlinked photo, so the post was deleted. I remember having to go up some stairs to get there, and the view out of the windows of some of those state rooms on the Windsor tour was definitely a view from a higher floor than the ground floor, but I'm not sure exactly how many floors up they are. Of course, with the very high ceilings in those rooms, you could be one floor up from the ground floor and think you were much higher upm

It's probably what the British call the first floor, then, and I assume that the semi-state rooms (the three drawing rooms, etc., that are used by the Royal Family) are on that same floor. Thanks!

Wonder if Windsor Castle also has elevators. Seems that would make it easier for people to get around in that huge building! =)

Elspeth · #5 10-15-2006, 12:40 AM

It may do, although I'm not sure how easy it'd be to install them in such an old building. I don't remember seeing any signs of them, but I'm sure if they exist they're behind the scenes and only used for transporting heavy goods from one floor to another.

kgreen20 · #6 10-15-2006, 01:08 AM

So I guess the Royal Family goes from one floor to the other via the good old-fashioned way! =) (Unlike when they're at Buckingham Palace.)

kgreen20 · #7 10-27-2007, 10:49 PM

I've got a DVD set titled "Windsor Castle: A Royal Year," which is excellent. I've watched it and other videos and DVDs, and I've read quite a few books on the British Royal Family. So this is what I understand (feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken):

First, unless the public sections of Windsor Castle are shut down for specific reasons (state banquets, etc.), the public is allowed to tour them even when the Queen and her family are in residence. There are sections private to the Royal Family that the public cannot enter.

Second--and this is what confuses me--the Crimson Drawing Room, the Green Drawing Room, the White Drawing Room, and the State Dining Room are all located along the second-floor corridor (as we would call here in America) that faces the East Terrace. That corridor, I understand, is the Queen's corridor. So if the public is allowed access to the rooms along that corridor when the Royal Family is in residence on the weekends, during Easter Court, and during the week of Royal Ascot, how can they do so without running into royals at every turn? Also, are the members of the Royal Family able to spend time on the East Terrace without running into tourists?

If anyone can help me make sense of this apparent contradiction, I'll be most grateful.

Kathy G.

wbenson · #8 10-28-2007, 12:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kgreen20

First, unless the public sections of Windsor Castle are shut down for specific reasons (state banquets, etc.), the public is allowed to tour them even when the Queen and her family are in residence. There are sections private to the Royal Family that the public cannot enter.

Correct

Quote:

Originally Posted by kgreen20

Second--and this is what confuses me--the Crimson Drawing Room, the Green Drawing Room, the White Drawing Room, and the State Dining Room are all located along the second-floor corridor (as we would call here in America) that faces the East Terrace. That corridor, I understand, is the Queen's corridor. So if the public is allowed access to the rooms along that corridor when the Royal Family is in residence on the weekends, during Easter Court, and during the week of Royal Ascot, how can they do so without running into royals at every turn? Also, are the members of the Royal Family able to spend time on the East Terrace without running into tourists?

I'm going to reconsult some maps, but I think the private apartments are segregated from that area. It's the same corridor, I believe, but at opposite ends.

kgreen20 · #9 10-28-2007, 05:08 PM

If you could find a way to display a copy of that map here, I'd be most grateful.

I hope the poor royals can at least walk up and down their own East Terrace corridor!! (The one facing the East Terrace, I mean.) It's not fair if their access is limited strictly to the suites in the towers.

Warren · #10 10-29-2007, 03:37 AM

There is nothing I can find that shows the layout of the private apartments.
From the official Windsor Castle guidebook here is a plan of the State Apartments: State Apartments

kgreen20 · #11 10-29-2007, 10:45 AM

Thanks, Warren. In regards to the State rooms, that plan certainly helps. In regards to the Semi-State rooms, I don't see the State Dining Room or the White, Green, or Crimson Drawing Rooms located on that State Apartment plan, so I know they must be located in the very corridor that the Royals use that faces the East Terrace. Again, I don't see how the public can visit those rooms without running into the Royals when they're in residence. That's what I'm trying to resolve in my own mind.

One other thing. I didn't see the castle library on that plan, so it must be to the left or the right of the state apartment section. Am I right in assuming it's to the east of that section that's shown on the plan? Or is it elsewhere?

KingJosh · #12 02-08-2008, 11:03 AM

Here is a link to a video about windsor.

Part one: The Banquet

Windsor Castle A Royal Year - Episode 1 The Banquet

Part two: Four Seasons
GUBA - Windsor Castle - Four Seasons
Part three: The Ranger

Windsor Castle A Royal Year - Episode 3 The Ranger

I've watched all three it's a really great Documantery.

**Marengo** · #13 11-04-2008, 06:53 PM

I wondered if anybody knows when which part of the castle complex was built? I suppose various parts were built in different years...

And does anybody know what things are to be seen at the estate? I believe royal Lodge is there and the mauseleum of Queen Victoria? Anything else that is interesting maybe?

Pixilated · #14 11-04-2008, 08:39 PM

I don't remember there being elevators.The Castle is very old and has lots of back stairways...it was hard for the staff to locate the Princesses during raids in their rooms.It's the neatest, most true form of a Castle!

Menarue · #15 11-05-2008, 02:41 AM

Seen from the river approach it must be one of the most beautiful sights in the world.

**Stefan** · #16 11-05-2008, 03:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marengo

I wondered if anybody knows when which part of the castle complex was built? I suppose various parts were built in different years...

And does anybody know what things are to be seen at the estate? I believe royal Lodge is there and the mauseleum of Queen Victoria? Anything else that is interesting maybe?

The entire Upper part of the Castle was changed by George IV. but it is much older-

Unfortunately Frogmore House and the Royal Mausoluem is only open for a few days in August every Year. See here: The Royal Collection - Frogmore House
The Royal Lodge can not be visited. It was used by the Queenmother who died there in 2002 and it is now the Home of Prince Andrew.

Skydragon · #17 02-16-2009, 11:10 AM

Queen's local McDonald's calls in bouncers to fend off thugs outside Windsor Castle

Queen's local McDonald's calls in bouncers to fend off thugs outside Windsor Castle | Mail Online

Emeralds and Opals · #18 03-01-2009, 08:13 PM

Plug pulled on 'green' electricity for the Queen - Times Online

Emeralds and Opals · #19 04-07-2009, 10:21 AM

Windsor Great Park fire sparked by Duke of Edinburgh order - Telegraph

Skydragon · #20 04-07-2009, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emeralds and Opals

Windsor Great Park fire sparked by Duke of Edinburgh order - Telegraph

Quote:

The Duke had seen the recently felled 10sq ft wood during a carriage drive and declared it a "bloody eyesore" for visitors coming through the nearby Blacknest Gate.But when Crown Estate staff tried to clear the site by dousing the woodpile with petrol and setting it alight, they came close to disaster

The Duke asks them to clear up the mess they had left, they then decide to douse it in petrol and suddenly it is the Dukes fault!