THE ROYAL PALACES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18565, 24 November 1923, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE ROYAL PALACES.

WINDSOR CASTLE. BT A COCET HISTORIAN. No. n. " After all there is nothing like Windsor and the Park," wrote Lord Melbourne to Queen Victoria after one of his visits to the castle. Seated upon the Berkshire hills and looking down upon one of the loveliest stretches of the Thames, here- silvery and swan-haiaited, . Windsor Castle has perhaps the most beautiful situation of any Royal residence in Europe. It is the oldest of the King's seats, dating from Norman times, and some of the most stirring events of English history have been enacted within its walls. King George V. has restored something of the old tradition to Windsor Castle, his stately Berkshire home. Henry VUL, Elizabeth, Charles I. and his son and successor, and "Farmer" George lIL. all delighted to spend as much time as possible beside the Thames, and Queen i Victoria preferred Windsor to Buckingham Palace, though it never displaced Balmoral in her affections. Perhaps she never outlived her first impression of the castle when she visited it shortly after her accession. " Windsor," she said, " always appeal's very melancholy to me. and there are so many sad associations with it." She found, too, that it required " thorough cleaning." George L and George XL frankly disliked Windsor, and the late King Edward did not visit it as often as did his Royal mother— " Widow .f Windsor, as Mr. Rudyard Kipling called her in one of his ballads of the barrack-rocm. The present King is always happy at Windsor, and seems to enjoy a gallop in the Great Park, especially if one of his sons or his daughter rides with him. A canter down the " long walk " before breakfast is one of the special delights of His Majesty. Family life at Windsor. life at Windsor is essentially family life, though Ministers and messengers with scarlet despatch-boxes dog the Royal footsteps every whc. y. It was a domesticated life which Queen Victoria and her consort spent at Windsor in the early days of their married life. The. Prince Consort was early appointed Constable of the Tower and Keeper of the Great Park, titles of honour without any onerous duties. "He devoted himself to looking after the farm, the orchards, the dairies, and the gardens, and making them self-supporting. The dairies had to produce enough milk and butter to justify their existence, the produce-gardens were made to repay the outlay on their upkeep. Prince Albert was genuinely fond of fanning, and under his direction* the farm prospered exceedingly. Good-natured caricatures of the farmer-Prince showed him in leather leggings. a straw in his mouth and a spud in his hand. When the Prince Consort- was not engaged in . these occupations, the Royal pair led a life of placid happiness. As the Queen said, she went to Windsor ' for 1 her holidays." Sometimes the Queen and her husband would picnic in the forest, like a couple of middle-class lovers. It f§ hardly-necessary to say that knowledge of the eimple, almost bourgeois, life led by the Aayal pair at their " holiday home " delighted the great mass of the British people, tired of the follies and extravagances ,of the last- two reigns; and to be domesticated became fashionable, even among the "Smart Set" of the day. Every period has its Smart Set. notable Events at Windsor. At Windsor Castle, in 18*1, . the firstborn son of the Queen, and KingEmperor, saw the hght- Albert Kwrd was the Queen s second child, the Princess Royal having been born the year before. This Prince of Waies spent a considerable portion of his childhood at Windsor Castle -, and it was here that his mortal remains were brought to be buried in that Royal Tomb House which already contained the dust of George 111., George IV.. and William IV. Ihe coffin Oi the Prince Consort lay in this vault for a year while the Frogmore mausoleum was being prepared. _ . ' 1 Though she had such a deep affection for Balmoral. Queen Victoria spent a large part of every year at Windsor. The castle is conveniently near town, being well under an hour's way journey from London. ' ' Here were issued the famous " dme-and-sleep" commands which many eminent men received from the Queen. A certain politician who had never before received an invitation from Koyalty greatly offended the Queen by a tactless indiscretion. No sooner had he been received at the castle than he wrote several letters on the headed noipaper which was placed in every guest's room. As he was only there for a few hours, 'his. correspondence might have waited, but he was apparently actuated by a vain-glorious desire to write from Windsor Castle. While she was staying at Windsor in the "eighties, one of the several attempts on the Queen's life was. made. It is curious that this universally-loved Sovereign should have been the target of the. assassin so many, times. As the "Royal carriage was on' its way from Windsor station to the castle, one, McLean fired a pistol at> the Queen.. Luckily his aim was deflected by the prompt action of a sturdy Eton 1 boy; one of many who had assembled to cheer the Sovereign, ~ ■ ' yPetrified History. a Founded by the Conqueror, Windsor Castle is the" must venerable Royal residence in Europe, and to write a complete account of the events which have occurred within its grim grey walls would be to write a history of England. • Good Queen Bess loved Windsor, and often rode and hunted in the Great Park. She would often give one of' her favourites a fat buck, trophy of the chase. The Virgin Queen, improved the castle by. building a banqueting hall, and a gallery connecting the Tudor tower with the inner gate. Shakespeare visited the Queen here, arid wrote " The Merry Wives of Windsor" at Her Majesty's command. It , is curious that while the poet was staying at 'Windsor there were two women called Page and Ford living in the town. Henry VIII.. was greatly attached to Windsor. He was buried there with enormous pomp, the funeral procession being three miies long. Charles I. was brought a prisoner to Windsor Castle before his trial. Crowds saw him escorted to the castle by a guard of Cromwell J soldiers and sobs and 'crits of grief and compassion broke out on . every side. Whereupon the soldiers were ordered to dear the streets, which they did. ana when the people ran into the houses an taverns to avoid them, , J " to tavern, killing bourgeois of Windsor. _ Charles IL was often at toe casile wi*h his gav Court, and built a theatre ♦ here In other ways the Merrv Monarch tried to turn it into a Vemaifies, but it must be put to his credit that he used a «reat deal of caring by J*??™* r-ifchn Parliament voted £70.000 for a G to the Martyr King, but his EE'S had other use's for the money, and the monument was never built. is successor and brother, James 11., staged England by - receiving the Papal riuncio at" Windsor Castle, and by this caving the war for the revolution of 1688, which brought* in Dutch William - •••. Indeed, the great grey pile that towers abovs the Thames is petrified history.