Windsor Castle, England | A Walking Tour Inside Queen Elizabeth's Castle

[Music] morning everyone i am on the move i'm heading out of town this morning we are heading to windsor ladies and gents a thousand years of history the home of our majesty the queen beautiful quaint little town about 23 miles west of london so stay tuned i'm going to bring you every step of the way hope you're all well delighted to be back up and running stay tuned this is going to be a great one this is windsor i took the train from paddington station for the roughly 45 minute journey to windsor and eaton central station which is the closest station to windsor castle you will have to change trains at slough station but this requires simply walking across the platform alternatively you can take a different train from waterloo station in london that brings you to the windsor and eaton riverside station and this can add 15 to 20 minutes to your journey which route you take will really depend on which london departure station is closest to you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and we're going to have a little look around windsor town first before we head in to the stunning windsor castle 1 000 years of history and 39 monarchs have resided here the oldest occupied and continuously inhabited castle of any castle in the world and the residence of choice of her majesty the queen now look at this replica of a steam locomotive and this is to represent what queen victoria this would have pulled her royal carriage of which she was the very first monarch to take a journey she took a horse and carriage to slow which is about four miles away and then she boarded her train which was all decked out the royal suite especially furnished for her apparently she had a slight paranoia about the compulsory 43 miles an hour speed of the train she thought it was going to be detrimental to her health so she insisted the train driver actually only went to the speed of 30 miles an hour and here's a little bit of information the architect of which the first train she was on again was isenbard kingdom brunel now immediately when you come through here you'll see this stunning building it's a great two-listed building and i mean now the station has some amazing bars and restaurants along the way there's incredible shopping and i know some people don't think of shopping when they come to windsor but there is amazing places to shop got a lot of sweaty belly phase eight castle fine art whistles i'm sure it's not going to be your priority when you first arrive though but this will give you an idea so you take once you find that little steam train or the replica of you'll know you're going in the right direction and we're going to head straight up here towards the town itself and the incredible view that hits you in just a few moments the stunning residence of her majesty the queen look what's in front of you ladies and gents this stunning sight that hits you immediately the walls surrounding the castle now even though these walls were fortified years later the original structure here was built by william the conqueror and we do know that the queen is in residence ladies and gents but look at the sight that hits you so it's not like you could miss it the minute you come out of the railway concourse and here is a stunning view of windsor castle now we're on a big journey today we've a lot to see along the way loads of history coming your way but i just wanted to show you a little bit around the town itself initially so this is the main concourse to get you back isn't that beautiful it's a great two-listed building windsor world shopping and windsor royal station so in order to get to the castle then you just make that short walk up there once you get to the steam locomotive you'll know you're on the right track straight up here towards the queen victoria statue and victoria was known as the widow of windsor spent the majority of her time in mourning here at windsor castle it's where prince albert died as well here at windsor prince albert and queen victoria both buried in the mausoleum on the grounds of frogmore which is also on windsor but unfortunately not open to the public she dedicated mausoleum there to her resting place and there she is so if you're heading towards the castle you're going to go in that direction but i'll show you all that in just a moment you'll see visitors entrance written there and on automatically you were struck with how impressive this stunning residence of over 40 monarchs including her majesty the queen and over a thousand years of history one of the most impressive and famous castles in the world let me just take you down here for a quick look around now of course in windsor you have amazing views of the castle but this is also a great place as mentioned to get a bite have a little bit of shopping this is peas cod street peas cod very british name of a street and let's head around here so some of the more famous buildings here the one in front of you here is where the museum is located is the guild hall and this was built by sir christopher wren prior to saint paul's cathedral and you will be quite familiar with christopher wren as i speak a lot about him on my city of london tour and you'll have a look here at this amazing little shop love this so this is the wonky store or the the crooked shop of windsor there has been a building on this site since 1592. now just a quick mention about the guild doll here that was built by sir christopher wren this was built in 1690 it's where prince charles actually got married to the duchess of cornwall it's also where sir elton john's civil partnership took place now as we're walking down here i just wanted to show you another very cool feature and i always love this and showing my customers this but the little street heading down right now is called queen charlotte street and you'll see most of these shops are adorned with look at that beautiful replica of a crown there queen charlotte street technically has the title of the shortest street in britain so continuing down the shortest street in britain this street is that stands at only 51 feet and 10 inches long and there's a circular blue plaque here confirming that for us 51 feet 10 inches in length and the street itself is said to date back to 1592 and it really does feel like you're back in the 16th century so let's have a look around here we have the prince harry pub now i only want to show you a little loop around windsor some of these gorgeous little stores along the way scotch stop whiskies and chins here's the prince harry pub and we're coming around the back of the guild hall now i just wanted to take you down briefly you know i love churches in the area and of course we're going to see one of the most famous ones of them all inside the complex of windsor castle and that's saint george's chapel coming up later on on the tour this is the guildhall again in the museum and we'll take you just a little further down here i just want to show you this beautiful church here this is saint john the baptist church and it arrived here soon after henry the first moved the royal court to windsor castle uh in 1168 it served several different purposes but in 1168 it was used as a leper colony now it's one of the principal churches in the town of windsor let's have a quick look at it here it was rebuilt in 1822 in the revival gothic style now the church is grade 2 listed has a lot of the local mayors of windsor that are buried inside here and also james ellison he was surgeon to the household of queen victoria now later on i'm going to take you down that path again and that's going to bring us down to the long walk established by king charles ii and that's a beautiful four kilometer walk south of windsor castle inside windsor park [Music] and that brings you down to an amazing copper statue of george the third [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh let me give you a little look around here some lovely places to eat all the way down there as well down on the main street and here she is we have the back of the widow of windsor right so we're going to make our way up towards the main castle entrance there is an airport style security check when you head in but these are your typical kings and queens gift stores there's also carbocation mr bean it reminds me i brought that home in the airport one time as a gift for someone as a joke at christmas time and uh i did receive some very bizarre looks you'll see the plane going overhead we're in the flight path of heathrow airport but just wanted to show you here just this is the norman gate on the left-hand side now that's where you'd usually exit the palace but in the background flying high on top of the amazing round tower is the royal standard so the queen is in residence ladies and gents so there's amazing staff here they're always very helpful and they'll be very happy to show you around when you arrive here at windsor they have a very distinctive uniform that you can see here a stunning uniform so there's stewards everywhere to help you out when you arrive there's the henry viii gate which is the main exit of windsor and uh the main visitors entrance is up here now look at this gorgeous little courtyard before we head in edinburgh woolen mill i like the carpenter's arms here for a bit of lunch um usually as well so you'll never be short of somewhere to go now the street we just went down i mean meant to mention it to you actually let's see a pub here called nell guinness we've also got one and it's called jewelry it's by juror house tea house but we also have one in uh covent garden on our tour in london now gwen was one of the more famous mistresses of king charles ii and he actually had a home here for her in windsor but if you head down that street queen charlotte street the jewelry house tea rooms and restaurants um is a reference to the fact that she worked in the royal jewelry lane theater in london the oldest working theater in london and presumably presumed to be the most haunted it's now showing the spectacular frozen musical well it is said that is where king charles ii first met her when she was acting working as an actress she was originally an orange seller but the street we came down the shortest street in britain is said to have an underground passage as well which had a secret passage so king charles ii and mel green could meet in private and have a secret liaison and i did do a video as well of palmall and saint james street and we also spoke about another passage that connected kensington palace and her own house which was on prairie palma the only privately owned houses on palmau home of the gentleman so when you head in here this is the main visitors entrance as mentioned the staff are great here they really do help but if you come on a group tour you would usually wait down the street here and i will be taking you down there later on because that will make our way down saint albans street towards the the long walk and your queue would be here for the group entrances and that's if you come in a group tour but if you're coming individually you can head in through the main entrance here now i had pre-booked my ticket and i was pleasantly surprised to know that when i did buy it and pre-book it i have a year's past ladies and gents because i donated it to the windsor castle fund so we're gonna head inside now obviously i'm not allowed to film through the security check but we'll get some footage inside so join me on a tour of the grounds of windsor castle [Music] so it's pretty self-explanatory when you first come in here this is the back of the lower ward and it's now the residences of the military knights and they are the military faction of the knights of the order of the garter which was founded in 1342 1348 that's the bloody mary tower as we're arriving in now it's still residences can you believe that and they one of the windsor wardens was telling me there two minutes ago that is actually they have a doctor surgery in there for the residents of windsor it's a very much a working castle the view directly in front of you is the round tower and this is where you would head to get your audio visuals and your audio guides now everywhere you go as well there are windsor wardens to assist you and their stunning uniforms based on the riding uniform that george the third used to wear and even to the day you'll see the likes of prince charles will wear that uniform so it's actually survived for centuries we're just gonna let the kiddies pass us here but this is the view when you first arrive here in windsor now the history of windsor is without a question or doubt it's complex and there's over a thousand years of windsor history to get through so what i want to try and do is kind of break it down by the monarchs who have shaped the castle that we see today so the residents have over 40 monarchs including her majesty queen elizabeth ii again i want to attempt to break down the key monarchs who have shaped the castle and the fortress and how it evolved to the stunning palace and the home of her majesty the queen a beautiful royal residence and a place of monumental royal occasions that have occurred here over the years so these lovely little resting places to take a break but we're going to start initially construction began on the actual castle in 1070 and it was completed in 1086 now initially it was built as a norman fortification and to protect the western approach to london and uh to protect the western approach to the river thames its proximity to windsor park was also a decisive factor in the building of a royal residence here because it was a convenient hunting ground essentially for the favorite the favorite sport hunting of kings and queens for centuries now with this proximity to london it also meant that reinforcements were only a day's march away in case castles like the tower of london another amazing norman fortification which you will have seen on our channel for those who haven't seen it we'll put a link in the description margaret did an amazing tour inside the tower of london so just in case it came under invasion the reinforcements were only a day's march away so these norman fortifications started out as defensive structures featuring a mott and a bailey and you see that raised earth structure there below the around tower that is what was known as a mott and the keep was always on top and it was a wooden keep initially but it was reinforced by the georgians well actually george's ii reinforced it in stone and then william iv actually built it 30 feet higher so the moss and the baileys the baileys um were two structures defensive structures surrounding them the tower and windsor's quite unique because they have two baileys they have the lower ward and the upper ward so we could really divide windsor in three parts the upper middle and lower ward and we're going to be approaching the middle board now the lower ward is definitely the most public and the upper ward is where the date apartments are and the semi-state departments so you would get your audio guides when you're arriving here folks if you're using one i won't be using one today because well i'm hoping to rely on my own information and my own bit of research about this amazing castle so if you're enjoying the tour so far go ahead and click that like and share button and help others discover this video and for more virtual tours of london and beyond consider subscribing to our channel be sure to visit our website to learn more about our in-person tours and london travel tips we also offer live and virtual tours in cities throughout the world you can help support this channel by donating through the thanks button or by buying your tour guide a pint or a cup of coffee links to do so are in the description below now back to the tour so getting back to the the stone structure you see now would originally have been a wooden keep also known as a dungeon and that came from the latin word dominion meaning lordship built to intimidate and impress the dungeon imposes on us this idea of a dominating prince at presence a symbol of power and authority of the new regime this round tower there's been a keep on this site since the 12th centuries in one form or another so it was replaced by stone as previously mentioned by henry the first and for the building of the tower and the entire fortress was converted into a royal residence by his grandson who was henry iii he replaced the wood with stone and the including the stone walls even actually replacing the entire wooden structure of this fortification so that's a better view there of what was known as the mont the raised earth structure kind of a an example of that in london as well would be the city era in the tower of london the white tower so in the turn of the 13th century then henry iii improved on the private residence and he built a chapel and he made the walls 24 feet thick as a defense against catapult warfare at the time henry iii chapel was originally dedicated to saint edward the confessor and that has since been rededicated well it's the albert memorial chapel now and we will be seeing that later on when i take us on a little tour around the grounds and the lower ward and that is what we're looking at right now the more public part of the castle here is the lower ward and i think we'll take a little look around here first so we'll start here with the lower ward and then this is the middle ward and that is now home to the national archives are the royal archives ladies and gents stunning collection inside there now there is access at limited times of the year to the round tower you can actually climb on top but uh the most stunning visual this morning is the royal standard is flying mean the queen is in residence so at the back of the round tower is the upper ward and we will be seeing that later on that is where we'll be exiting from the state apartments and the visual in there and that is also where the private residence of the queen is located now you have the middle ward shop here souvenir shop we've also opened up a little coffee shop and a restaurant here as well so after henry iii's chapel it was extended years later to saint george's chapel and rededicate it to saint george because edward iii was next to renovate the castle and he spent in excess of 50 000 pounds on a further and more elaborate redevelopment he began work on here which is the lower ward and he established the college of st george which is here on the left hand side and that was founded in 1348 the same year that edward iii founded the order of the garter the highest post of chivalry in this country and that's why saint george who was the patron saint of the order of the garter he dedicated the chapel which is saint george's chapel to the patron saint of the new order the garter so he was obsessed with myth and legends and a lot of people actually believe that edward iii was a reincarnation himself of king arthur and he did nothing to dispel this rumor because he was quite obsessed with that period so effectively he built his own knights of the round table with the establishing of the knights of the order of the garter and everywhere you go in windsor you will see their insignia so this would be the college of saint george and right down here are the homes of the military knights of windsor and these are the military faction of the knights of the order of the garter and they regularly attend services here in saint george's chapel behind me which i'll show you in just a moment but do you see the insignia there of the knights and it says only soir mali pulse which in fact means shame on he who thinks ill of him and this is their residence now what amazing place to live can you only imagine so obviously i'm coming back to st george's chapel in a moment but the sun is directly in my eyes there so i just wanted to extend that for you so the knights of the order of the garter still very significant in windsor history to this day every june there is a professional route the queen will host a luncheon for the nights inside the castle and they will make their way for a service here inside just stunning here okay lovely no problem saint george's chapel of course we'll be heading in there very shortly so not only did edward iii establish the knights of the order of the garter but he also renovated the palace into one of the finest palaces in the country and it is said he did so with the help of the finest masons and skilled carpenters and at one time they say that they suggested every mason and carpenter in the country was working on the rebuilding of this palace which was no mean feat considering a third of the population had recently been killed in the black death so he found it quite difficult to find workers at the time but again most of the work was done by edward iii's skilled masons and carpenters now we're heading down here you'll see the familiar sight of one of the queen's guardsmen and you'll know this from the changing of the guard tour that we featured on our channel there's a souvenir store in the laurel ward as well so this is where you would exit the castle at the henry the eighth gate unless we're heading around here you'll see the soldier so the marching guard you see here is stationed here in the lower ward outside the guard room is a member of the cold stream guards one of the five regiments of foot guards of the household division the guards are responsible for the security of windsor castle and protection for the royal family changing of the guard at windsor takes place tuesdays thursdays and saturdays but be advised that is always subject to change it's best to consult the army's household division website for the dates of the changing other guard please also be advised when the queen is in residence the guard change will take place in the upper ward on the quadrangle area when the queen is not in residence it takes place here in front of the guard room in the lower ward now during the civil war it's interesting to know that this was the only time that castle was occupied cromwell and his puritan forces took up residence here they had executed the king and went in whitehall on the 30th of january in 1649 and they took up residence now they did plunder in pillage windsor and a lot of the priceless artwork was sold off they attempted to sell off windsor indeed windsor park a lot of it had to be retrieved and the restoration of the monarchy period was when charles ii claimed the throne and he returned from exile and he had been in mainland europe we'll come back to that in a minute just wanted to show you this which i think is a beautiful part now although it looks very very old this is the horseshoe cloisters um this is a renovated a rebuilt so the horseshoe cloisters um as i said was built in 1480 and it was reconstructed in the century rather so not as old as 1480 but we're allowed to head inside here only certain times of the year so i wanted to take you in here because now it's beautiful home to some of the [Music] workers um residencies are the workers of saint george's chapel and they include look at this ladies and gents how amazing this is let me just uh minimize you down there so this is the home of 45 junior members 16 vicars 13 lake clerks and 13 caristas but the reason we're here folks is look behind me the incredible entrance or the ceremonial entrance it was only added to the chapel in the victorian era she built this set of steps for ceremonial purposes and you will recognize it from a very famous wedding that took place a wedding of the duke and duchess of sussex prince harry and meghan markle it's also up these steps where the very somber funeral of the duke of edinburgh members of the the army lifted his coffin up into the chapel now there's no main entrance for us here these are ceremonial steps on behalf of the royal family but just a quick look around again just want to show you how beautiful it is behind me and the horseshoe cloisters and the accommodations of the staff of st george's chapel so next let's head into one of the most magnificent parts of the castle and always is the highlight for me let's head into the amazing st george's chapel st george's chapel is one of the finest examples of perpendicular architecture in the world the chapel as you see it today was completed in 1484 by edward iv and that's been the location of many royal family celebrations over the years including the recent marriage of the duke and duchess of sussex prince harry and meghan markle but more importantly it is also a royal mausoleum featuring the memorial chapel to princess charlotte the only daughter of king william iv who died in childbirth the fault of king george vi the queen mother and princess margaret and the royal vault where henry viii and his third wife jane seymour are buried alongside king charles the first and most recently the burial of his royal highness prince philip the duke of edinburgh it is also the resting place of king edward vii and queen alexandria and the red door you see here is one of the few surviving parts of the earliest chapel at windsor castle built by henry vii now it's the albert memorial chapel designed by george gilbert scott in 1862 under the instruction of queen victoria and dedicated to her beloved husband prince albert the rutland chantry chapel you see here was founded in 1481 by sir thomas st ledger and was dedicated to his wife and duchess of exeter older sister of richard iii and the tomb you see here her brother edward iv and one of the many treasures of note in the chapel is the high altar of the nave featuring the 11 meters high stained glass window which dates back to the 16th century and finally a view of the exquisite choir stalls one of which is reserved for the queen above which hang the banners of the knights of the order of the garter so he reinstated windsor as the principal palace of the monarchy with the aid of his trusted gentleman architect hugh may and we'll see a lot of the renaissance style interior of the castle let me take a little trip inside the state apartments is largely representative of the decorations or the renovations that were done by george iv king george iv the son of george the third now the regency period was known for its lavish spending and he was a big spender george iv he spent in excess they say of up to 300 000 pounds making the interiors [Music] some of the most desired rooms in this uh well the furnishings are in fact the majority of the interior actually i'm muggling my words i always get a bit excited before i go in here but the majority of the interior is a collection of over 50 monarchs private collections inside here but he's responsible effectively for the waterloo chamber that we'll see later on he's responsible for the crimson drawing room the green library he was all reds and velvets and guilt goals he commissioned artists like thomas lawrence to paint stunning pictures of the victors of the battle of wallerloo and that is now where they have state banquets inside in windsor castle and the queen usually hosts about two a year some of the more famous people that have been guests are honorable guests of state banquets have included nelson mandela jacques iraq and madame shirak president obama and michelle obama president donald trump and usually the honorary guests stay in a suite called suite 204 which overlooks the stunning long walk which i'll show you later on but they have their suite is incredible they even had the entire cast of les miserables i came here to play for the visit of jacques madame shirak they were here for the hundred year anniversary of the signing of the on torch anton cordial and they actually removed the paintings of the waterloo chamber it seemed a bit ironic that they were celebrating one of the most famous victories over napoleon and a room dedicated to it was where they were hosting events for the french so they removed the paintings not too rubble in their faces essentially so before we head in there just the last few things about windsor itself so after the george the fort and i know if a lot was done queen victoria added those ceremonial staircases at saint george's chapel but she spent most of her time in private mourning here known as the widow of windsor actually in 1917 the house of saks cobar gotha is what the royal family were known as they changed their name to windsor because they wanted to downplay their germanic heritage considering at the time they were at war with germany it's also where edward viii made his very famous abdication speech that's where the funeral of princess margaret took place the wedding of prince edward and sophie rhys jones took place here and several other momentous occasions we've mentioned earlier on the weddings of the duke and duchess of sussex and also the funeral of his royal highness the duke of edinburgh but we're going to head in this is our main entrance to the state apartments and at this time of the year in the winter time only for two or three months the semi-state apartments are also open but they don't open them up in the summertime so just be advised about that the queen mary's dolls house which is a celebration of all things miniature at a stunning little doll's house we'll put a little link in the description or a picture of it in the description it's closed as well at the moment because it's under repair but i will probably come back and do another uh little tour just so i can show you this stunning doll's house i'll tell you a little bit more about it but for right now let's head into the state apartments so before i head into the semi-state apartments i just wanted to show you this in the background this is eaton the very prestigious public school in this country it's where prince harry and prince william attended school and it's also where boris johnson attended school several prime ministers over the years the actor tom hiddleston attended school here eddie redmayne and it is very much desired amongst the elite to educate your children at eaton and also behind these trees is where the river thames would have been located here at the back of the state apartments which we're heading into next today as we first enter the state apartments we ascend the grand staircase into the grand vestibule and the trophies of arms and armor that line the walls are based on an arrangement by william iv in the 1830s all visitors to the state apartments where the members of the public or heads of state ascend this staircase to begin their tour and our first stop on the tour today as i was here there was an exhibition of the queen's pantomime costumes on display at windsor castle these outfits were made for a teenage princess elizabeth and princess margaret for pantomimes they performed in in windsor when they were sheltering here during the bombing campaign of world war ii this room is the waterloo chamber and it was built to commemorate the famous victory at the battle of waterloo this takes us into the grand reception room and this again was recreated by george iv and gives us a sense of his love of all things french during the 1992 fire the plaster ceiling collapsed and was restored and reinstated to its former glory specifically designed by wyattville to create this lavish impression of the french renaissance now our next stop is the green drawing room originally planned as a library and converted into a drawing room again by wyfo the ceiling you see here is probably one of the greatest creations in the castle one of the more impressive rooms in the castle is saint george's hall this 180 foot long room with its gothic style decoration was chosen by wyattville the walls in this room are hung with military weapons and suits of armor shields and armor over a thousand garter knights decorate the walls in the ceiling this room was one of the casualties of the destructive fire in windsor in 1992 and the ceiling is studded with coats of armor of all the knights of the order of the garter since the foundation of the order in 1348 a new oak hammer beam roof was constructed and the shields of the knights of the order of the garter were painstakingly recreated and repositioned on the ceiling everywhere around the castle you will see the insignia of the order of the knights of the garter and the motto anisoi mali ponce now this room in my opinion is one of the more beautiful rooms in the entire castle known as the queen's ballroom and it was originally constructed for the wife of king charles ii queen catherine of braganza it was remodeled by wyattville who actually replaced verio's ceiling paintings and also removed the old paneling the magnificent glass chandeliers you see here were hung in the reign of queen victoria and the portraits that adorned the walls are by the very famous portrait artist van dick most of which had been stolen and plundered during the civil war but were retrieved years later during the restoration of the monarchy by king charles the first son king charles ii and this is the queen's audience chamber retaining the stunning ceiling artwork by antonio verio and the original carvings again by grindling gibbons various ceiling depicts catherine of braganza in a chariot being drawn by swans to a temple of virtue the presence chamber was also used as a waiting room for guests who would have had an appointment scheduled with the queen now this room the rather small chamber was known as the king's dressing room and it's in here you'll see some of the most stunning artworks on display in the castle masterpieces created by giovanni bellini and also by rembrandt and vandick again take your time to have a look around at some of these priceless art pieces of the royal collection so next we're heading into the king's bed chamber and the elaborate bed you see here is by french woodworker george jacob draped with green and purple fabric similar to the ones used when emperor napoleon third iii came for a state visit in 1855. if you look closely we'll see the intertwined initials of both napoleon and his empress eugenie are embroidered on a fabric panel at the foot of the bed now this room was known as the king's drawing room and during the 19th century this was known as the reuben's room named after the famous flemish barack painter peter paul rubens prince albert had decorated this room with several reuben paintings which are now in the royal collection the elaborate plastered roof depicts the arms of king george iv and the garter star this is where king charles ii received important visitors and it is also the room that king george iv was laden state in 1830. now let's head out through our last rooms in the castle and i want to take you around the upper ward which is the private residence of her majesty the queen okay folks so this is the upper quadrant and this is the residence of the royal family so where we've actually gone this long long building on my left behind this tower it goes the whole way down the st george's hall then across the end you see there and that is the semi-state apartments of the royal family but if you look in the corner that tower area there and the round tower that is the residence of her majesty the queen the private quarters of the queen and through that archway where you'll see the soldier is moving right now is the long walk now we can't access this we're not allowed any access into this area at the moment although you can guide through some of the state apartments it closes off just from that round tower right here in the corner these are the residents of the queen where i am filming right now so we can't head down but i will go through the town and i'll show you the long walk the long walk was established by george oh charles ii actually he established a long walk it's a 4k kilometer walk right in front of the castle stunning stunning tree-lined walk we used to be um lined with elm trees but now i believe they've replanted them to plane trees just wanted to show you the more exclusive and private part of the upper quadrant so we just have the mini guard relief taking place every two hours these soldiers are in their century boxes right now where we are is up at the upper ward of windsor let's just follow them over and i'll show you where they're going towards going on judy to relieve i think this chap was a little worried i was going to follow him in but i certainly wasn't i'm fully aware that these guys are the real deal he's locking the doors and they're relieving the gentleman in his post in his sentry box over here which you'll see now why is he here because these are the queen's private apartments so most of the queen's apartments they extend from the far corner down here all around but the majority of the there on the left-hand side behind that white uh is it a range rover these are the private apartments of the queen at windsor and extend the whole way around but these part of the semi-state apartments or the royal suite is usually where foreign dignitaries will stay when they're visiting for a state banquet and if you look closely there in the middle that archway gives you a view onto the long mile the 4k walk south of windsor castle and that's usually where suite 204 is very important dignitaries or guests of the queen will stay as his and hers bathrooms as a private living quarters they have their own butler and a maid even their packing is done for them they will itemize their packing to make sure they pack it correctly and all the goods they take their housekeeping very seriously here when there are some rather unusual people employed here as well there's a horologist who is employed to make sure the 450 clocks are exactly on time they have one chap who lights all the fires the kitchens here are some of the oldest working kitchens is the oldest working kitchen in the world and i've just come out of this side this is the exit from their state apartments so then we head through the norman gate this direction which is one of the oldest gatehouses built to protect this approach to the round tower and the royal standard is flying the moat path that is charles ii by the way and it's said to be a replica while meant to be similar to the charles the first that's in trafalgar square the central most point in london so let's make our way around here [Music] so king john's tower entrance that one is called and over here you have the billiard room former billiard room which is now the souvenir store and we'll take you through here because this is some of the best views of the round tower coming here on the left but it's it's actually incredible to think that right across here literally just across that quadrangle the of the upper ward the queen is in and she is in that room right across the way from me here can you feel the majesty in the air ladies and gents nice certainly again all right we're gonna head through here so now we are going to follow the foot soldiers and make our way out of the castle complex and then head south till we connect with the dramatic long walk so one of the more beautiful additions to windsor castle was the long walk and it was established by king charles ii in 1680 and he was much inspired by the palace of versailles and the renovations that were taking place there at the same time so it gives stunning views and that's also the venue of suite 24 where any visiting uh premiers or heads of state that have been guests of honor at a state banquet have their room with this stunning view and i'll show you right behind me right now this is where the long walk extends to and it's four kilometers long but it's where all the major royal processional routes take place like prince harry and meghan markle or the duke and duchess of sussex they're elaborate procession here after their wedding and it's been favored with residents of windsor for years this is the beautiful windsor park it's also where the queen will leave windsor castle in her royal carriage from this direction and then she'll make her way towards ascot the stunning race course in the area now we are in the flight pathway of heathrow so you will hear some planes which is quite refreshing to hear now but it extends for four kilometers four miles and we might attempt that walk the next time i arrive that is something you have to visit whilst you're here there's a lot of celebrations planned around here for the platinum jubilee as well and no doubt there will be um they will use the long walk for a processional route of her majesty the queen celebrating 70 years on the throne so the stunning windsor park so for right now i'm going to make my way back to the train station ladies and gents i want to thank you all so much for all your continued support and your loyal following you are amazing several more amazing tours i'm going to be visiting places all outside of london inside of london possibly going back to ireland maybe a few trips to europe i'll make videos as long as you want me to make them don't forget to check out our playlist ladies and gents and don't forget to check out all our public tours which are up and running particularly in london all our guides are ready to meet you thanks again ladies and gents i'm heading for windsor rail station and a short journey back to london thanks for watching janae here with free tours by foot of the incredible windsor

Channel: Free Tours by Foot - London

Views: 552,622

Keywords: windsor castle tour, windsor castle, windsor castle england, visit windsor castle, queen elizabeth, day trip from london, windsor castle london, windsor walking tour, inside of windsor castle, round tower

Id: wNOMkDT69Ts

Length: 52min 24sec (3144 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 27 2022