Merry Times at Windsor--Day 65

I had another lovely day trip today to Windsor. The journey was a very rapid 50 minutes or so, and our tour guide Britt gave us a running commentary the entire time, so it went by even quicker. As we were approaching Windsor, we drove through the famous fields of Runnymede, where the Magna Carta was drafted and signed between King John and the barons who paid him taxes. Very cool.

Not just any old field...

We got some great sights of the castle before we entered the coach park, and I was very pleased because I feel like this is the first real castle I have seen in England--complete with parapets, a moat (fake because the castle is too high), and those lovely Gothic pointed-arch windows. I really felt like I was stepping back into the 1500s. Actually, Windsor Castle has been inhabited since 1080. The oldest part of the complex is known as the Round Tower, and above it rises the flagpole with either the Royal Standard or the Union Jack (you can't seen the Union Jack in the picture because it had rained earlier in the day, causing the flag to cling to the pole).

A view of the castle complex from the train station.

Curfew Tower.

Notice the boxy smokestacks, Gothic windows, and parapets. Very medieval!

King Henry VIII's gateway, with his royal seal above it.

The Round Tower, the oldest building in the whole complex.

More towers in the complex.

The garden at the base of the Round Tower, with a tree planted in honor of the late Princess Diana (which you cannot see in the photograph).

The hills surrounding Windsor as seen from the Middle Ward near St. George's Chapel.

 Britt was a fantastic guide. She is actually married to Simon, another of our guides, and she and her sister used to babysit Josh. As Dr. Kivisto put it (approximately), "The world of tour guiding is a small one." She gave us a lot of information as we were walking around the grounds of the castle. Like Parliament, the security at Windsor is very tight. We had to go through airport-style metal detectors and put our coats and bags through the scanner. Then, we got free audio guides to use in the State Apartments because Britt was not allowed to talk to us there.

We started with a walk up to St. George's Chapel outside of which the Changing of the Guard occurs. The guards at Windsor are special because they are real soldiers, not just men with a ceremonial post. As such, they are a little less formal. You know how the guards at Buckingham aren't supposed to react at all to the crowd? Well, one of the guards smiled at Amanda as a small group of them was passing us when we were leaving. Anyway, the ceremony starts with a company leader calling the old guard to attention so he can check their gear and make sure everything is in order. Then, a band marches in playing music and escorting the new guard. We didn't watch much of the ceremony because we wanted time to see the Chapel and State Apartments, but we all enjoyed the parts we did see.

The old guard standing at attention. The red plume in the bearskin of the guy wearing the red sash means that he is a member of the Coldstream Guards, a company that originated in Scotland.

The marching band.

St. George's Chapel is dedicated to the Most Noble Order of the Garter, an order of knights established in 1348 by King Edward III. The story (surely apocryphal) says that a lady who was visiting the court of the King happened to lose her garter one day. Back then, that was akin to losing her skivvies. Well, the courtiers and knights present started to laugh as King Edward stooped to pick up the garter and hand it back to the lady. Appalled at his court's behavior, he scolded them with, "Honi soit qui mal y pense," French for, "Evil to him who thinks evil." Soon after, he established the Order of the Garter with the intent of upholding chivalry. All of the members of the royal family are also members of the Order along with lots of other men and women, mostly royals and foreign dignitaries. The Queen alone can grant admittance to the Order. Each year, there is a big ceremony to welcome new members. Formally, members are required to attend all services held in St. George's Chapel (named for the patron saint of the society), but since many of them have other duties that require their attention, about 180 retired military men are hired to live at Windsor and fulfill the obligations of the Knights in their absence. It is a big job because the men must visit the Chapel everyday and attend all services in addition to completing other ceremonial tasks.

 St. George's Chapel is a wonderful piece of architecture. It has much wider naves than other Gothic cathedrals of its age, and it has the most ornate fan vaulting I have seen yet. There is even a mirror in the aisle so that visitors can get a better look at the ceiling without hurting their necks. Many important people are buried in the Chapel, including King Henry VIII, Jane Seymour (his favorite wife because she was the only one who bore him a son), and King Charles I. While I was in the Chapel, I learned that this year is the 400th anniversary of the introduction of the King James Version of the Bible. I thought that was really neat, especially since the Bible that I own is a KJV.

St. George's Chapel.

After we walked through the Chapel, we made our way to the State Apartments, where the Queen sleeps, dines, and entertains her guests when she is in residence at Windsor (which is pretty often; it's a nice place to be). We walked through the North Terrace, which has absolutely fantastic views of the surrounding area (including the cathedral at Eton), up to the entrance to the State Apartments. Britt then instructed us to turn on our audio guides and begin our tour. I must say from the outset that audio guides are wonderful. You get running commentary of what you are seeing, and you don't have to stop with a whole big group and focus your attention on a talking person. You can look at your leisure and listen at the same time. Our first stop was Queen Mary's Dolls' House, which sounds silly until you see it. Everything in the Dolls' House is 1:12 scale, and many of the objects actually work--the cars, the light switches, the faucets. The dining table has real silver plates and miniature wine bottles filled with actual wine. The Dolls' House was more for displaying the modern inventions of the time than for playing. It was created for the wife of King George V in 1924.

The cathedral at Eton is located just to the left of the center of the photograph. We could see for miles from the North Terrace, and I just love the rusty fall colors here.

The next part of the tour took me to the Drawings Gallery, which had some lovely Da Vinci sketches as well as a display honoring Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh, who is turning 90 this year. Amanda and I sort of stuck together through the tour, so we wandered through the gallery together before we entered this room full of amazing china sets. The most interesting to me was the set of Wedgwood vases, plates, and cups. It reminded me a lot of British Art History (the class) and the things that I learned in the class.

Our next stop was the actual apartments, which are prefaced by a small foyer full of foreign weapons, including loot plundered from the ruler of India before it became part of the British Empire. England even took a massive gold tiger head from the throne of this ruler, which is now displayed at Windsor. Probably my favorite part of the room was a statue of Queen Victoria the Empress of India with her favorite collie. A short walk from this foyer is the Waterloo Chamber, a massive room dedicated to the victory over the French at the Battle of Waterloo. The walls are lined with military men and churchmen who were influential in the victory, most notably the Duke of Wellington (whose real name was Arthur Wellesley), who was really the one who won the battle. All of the paintings, which are really magnificent, were done by Sir Thomas Lawrence.

After the Waterloo Chamber came a succession of sumptuous rooms, the details of which all start to run together in my head. Some of the most notable include the King's Bedchamber, the Crimson Drawing Room, St. George's Hall, and the State Dining Room.

The King's Bedchamber was not really where the King traditionally slept. Rather, it was where he received his guests, and it is notable because it is really the first private room that I came to.

The Crimson Drawing Room was redone after the fire on November 20th, 1992. It was a terrible day because it was the 45th wedding anniversary of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, but it was opened five years later on their 50th wedding anniversary, which I am sure was a nice treat. The redone rooms are really marvelous, and I think that they capture all of the former splendor very well. The Crimson Drawing Room was commissioned by King George IV (remember him from the Royal Pavilion), and it absolutely screams Regency. It is a lovely collection of rich reds, gleaming golds, and creamy whites. I would love to have a room just like it, if only for special occasions and such. I felt very special because the room is not always open to the public. As might be expected, the Queen likes to use the room to entertain her guests when they come to visit Windsor.

St. George's Hall was also redone after the fire, and it is very interesting because on the ceiling are hundreds of shields which depict the standards of each member of the Order of the Garter. Some of the shields are blank, and these shields represent Knights who have done something disgraceful in the Order and therefore do not have the right to display their standards.

The State Dining Room was actually quite intimate. It is where the Queen eats dinner with her guests during her famous "Dine and Sleep" events. The Queen invites certain people to Windsor for dinner, and it is then expected that she will offer to let them spend the night if they wish. The next morning, the guests are treated to a nice breakfast (without the Queen this time) before they depart Windsor.

I cannot remember the names of the rooms in which I saw them, but there were a few items that really caught my eye. One was a gilded nautilus cup, which is made of a real chambered nautilus shell attached to a silver gilt stem with more silver gilt decoration around the lip (silver gilt is sterling silver covered with a thin layer of gold; it is much more practical because it is lighter than real gold and much less susceptible to damage). Another couple of items was a solid silver mirror and a matching solid silver table. These items are rare indeed because most of the royalty turned their solid silver items into currency because the process was so easy. I also enjoyed seeing a beautifully decorated musical clock created in the mid-1700s. It has a glass case in which an old copy of the Bible rests, which I thought was quite nice.

After the tour, my friends and I all met up for lunch. We went to kind of a kooky place--the Crooked House, which got that way because its frame shifted. It's perfectly safe; it just looks a little funny. We snacked on tea and scones and then poked around some gift shops before it was time to head back to the coach. I stopped in a discount bookstore and bought myself a Charles Rennie Mackintosh calendar for 2012 (it's something I would never find in the US) because it was a pretty good price and because I really like Mackintosh's work.

The Leaning House of Tea. Woaahh...I think I feel a bit dizzy...

On our way back through the train station to the coach park, I stopped a took a photograph of this model train car. Queen Victoria loved taking the train to Windsor, but she was a little nervous because the train went up to speeds as high as 30 miles an hour. Not to be gross or anything, but a leading physician of the time claimed that traveling at those speeds would cause severe brain damage, which made many of the ladies fearful. I learned from QI that fences were built along transport corridors to spare people the sight of such affliction. Of course, we know that nothing could be further from the truth, but there's 19th century medicine for you.

Queen Victoria's favorite carriage.

On the coach heading back to London, Britt passed around some Terry's Chocolate Oranges for us to try. I know we have something similar in the United States, but it was still nice of her to buy them for us. The orange flavor is quite subtle, which is nice. It's like eating a Jaffa Cake in solid chocolate form. However, I think I had enough sugar for one day, so I won't be repeating the tea-then-chocolate thing again. The drive back went very smoothly. We had hardly any traffic. If anything, we got back to the flats in less time than it took us to drive to Windsor. I was very happy about this because the bus rides back can get pretty tedious and psychologically painful sometimes.

Tomorrow is our big farewell dinner and surprise event, which we know will involve fireworks because it is Guy Fawkes Night/Bonfire Night, when all of London is basically required to burn effigies of Guy Fawkes (a law set down by Parliament). I expect to be back pretty late, so don't worry if you don't see a post until Sunday morning.