Windsor Castle

This is the updated standard history of one of the greatest royal palaces. Founded as a formidable fortress beside the River Thames in 1070, the centuries have brought memories as varied as enriching. In 1110 King Henry I holds his court 'for the first time at the New Windsor'. In 1348 King Edward III founds the Order of the Garter. Here, in what before long is to become 'Shakespeare's Windsor' of ditch and mead and midnight bell, Queen Elizabeth I celebrates the first Christmas of her reign. With Cromwell's troops ousted, King Charles II's nephew, Prince Rupert Count Palatine, returns to take possession of the castle that Pepys finds 'the most romantique in the world'. Queen Anne receives the news of the victory of Blenheim in 1704 as she sits in her oriel, 'the Blenheim Tower'. In 1778 George III begins the restoration and conversion. Workmen find the embalmed body and severed head of King Charles I as they excavate the new royal vault in St George's Chapel. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert spend their honeymoon here. Queen Elizabeth II holds her first installation service in St George's Chapel in 1954, and in the splendid procession walks the newly invested Knight of the Garter, Sir Winston Churchill. So the story goes on to the present day.