Windsor Castle

Last updated : 09 July 2002 By Rob Cooper

Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
A royal palace and fortress for over 900 years, the Castle remains a working palace today. Visitors can walk around the State Apartments, extensive suites of rooms at the heart of the working palace; for part of the year visitors can also see the Semi State rooms, which are some of the most splendid interiors in the castle. They are furnished with treasures from the Royal Collection including paintings by Holbein, Rubens, Van Dyck and Lawrence, fine tapestries and porcelain, sculpture and armour.

Within the Castle complex there are many additional attractions. In the Drawings Gallery regular exhibitions of treasures from the Royal Library are mounted. Another popular feature is the Queen Mary's Dolls' House, a miniature mansion built to perfection. The fourteenth-century St. George's Chapel is the burial place of ten sovereigns, home of the Order of the Garter, and setting for many royal weddings. Nearby on the Windsor Estate is Frogmore House, an attractive country residence with strong associations to three queens - Queen Charlotte, Queen Victoria and Queen Mary.

In celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty The Queen, a new landscape garden has been created by the designer and Chelsea Gold Medallist Tom Stuart-Smith. The garden, the first to be made at the Castle since the 1820s, transforms the visitor entrance and provides a setting for band concerts throughout the year. The informal design takes its inspiration from Windsor's historic parkland landscape and the picturesque character of the Castle, introduced by the architect Sir Jeffry Wyatville for George IV in the 1820s.

Prices

Adult £11.50
Over 60 £9.50
Under 17 £6.00
Under 5 Free
Family £29.00
(2 adult, 2 under 17)

Admission prices when the State Apartments are closed:
Adult £6.00
Over 60 £5.00
Under 17 £3.00
Under 5 Free
Family £15.00
(2 adult, 2 under 17)

Travel

By train: To Windsor from London Waterloo or London Paddington. For train times call the National Rail Enquiries Service 08457 484950 (UK).

By coach: Green Line operates daily services from Victoria Coach Station, London.
Tour companies operate a daily service, collecting from many London hotels. For details ask your hotel.

By road: M4 to Exit 6. M3 to Exit 3.

Opening hours

March to October
09:45 -17:15
(last admission 16:00)

November to February
09:45 -16:15
(last admission 15:00)

Changing of the Guard
April to the end of June
Monday to Saturday at 11:00, weather permitting.

July to the end of March
On alternate days at 11:00 (with the exception of Sundays)