Buckingham Palace is the official headquarters of British monarchy, but Windsor Castle, the longest-inhabited castle in the world, situated in the county of Berkshire some 20 miles from central London, is its family home, a place of refuge and comfort. Over the past 100 years, Windsor has been the theater for invention and reinvention?of the modern royal family and the backdrop for dramas that have captivated the world and in turn strengthened and threatened the monarchy itself.
And so, as the House of Windsor welcomes as a new member Meghan Markle, a divorced, mixed-race American, it is only fitting that the wedding is held there. The royal family is beginning a new chapter, attempting to thrive and remain relevant into the 21st century. There is no more fitting backdrop for that effort than Windsor Castle.
In 1917 in the midst of World War 1 and amid great anti-German feeling, the royal family rebranded. King George V announced that from that moment on he was “relinquishing and discontinuing the use of all German titles and dignities.” His family would no longer? be known as Saxe-Coburg Gotha but now “styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor.”
Windsor, a quintessentially English market town, was deemed the ideal new name for the royal family because it represented tradition and romance, permanence and pageantry. The castle, with its commanding position overlooking the River Thames, was built originally in the 11th century by William the Conqueror, the king credited with unifying England. The name change marked the beginning of a new image and role for the royal family in the life of the nation. The monarchy no longer had significant political authority but instead would claim a moral kind of authority as the nation’s model family embodying Christian morality and faithfulness. But when these values were tested or undermined, the Windsor family brand could become toxic: never more so than the last time a royal fell for a divorced American.
On the evening of Dec. 11, 1936, speaking, of course, from Windsor Castle, King Edward VIII announced his abdication. As monarch, King Edward was the nominal head of the Church of England, which at the time did not allow divorced people to marry in church. It was therefore widely believed that King Edward could not marry Wallis Simpson, a divorced American, and remain on the throne. In a voice initially nervous but increasingly strident, he made his dramatic announcement: “I now quit altogether public affairs,” he said. “We now have a new king.” The morning papers captured the now forming king leaving Windsor Castle by car later that evening, his hand attempting to cover his face. The following day, his younger brother, now King George VI, gave him the title Duke of Windsor. The duke’s subsequent dalliance with Nazi Germany gave the name a kind of exposure that threatened the monarchy itself. The House of Windsor, which had been born of a need to distance itself from Germany and espouse Englishness, now seemed to be anything but.
During the early 1940s, as war raged in Europe, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and their two daughters, Princesses Margaret and Elizabeth, took refuge at Windsor and the castle became their family home. Photographs over the next few years presented a quiet, domestic picture of the royal family and
attempted to reflect national mood of sobriety and need for calm and resolve. The king decided that he and his family should remain in England throughout the war, sharing the experience of bombing raids with his subjects. While the king and queen spent much of their time at Buckingham Palace, the princesses continued to live at Windsor, where they were joined on weekends by their parents. And when King George VI died in 1952, he was laid to rest in St. George’s Chapel － the same building that will host today’s wedding.
As soon as Queen Elizabeth succeeded her father, she decreed that Windsor would become her principal weekend retreat. The private apartments, which had become rather dilapidated, were modernized, and the queen and her husband, Prince Philip, took up residence with their children. It was and remains the place Queen Elizabeth regards as home.
In November 1992, fire engulfed the castle after a spotlight set fire to a curtain. The blaze lasted for 15 hours and caused extensive damage to more than 100 rooms. The queen was in London but rushed to Windsor and watched in horror as her home went up in smoke. Pictures of her picking over the ruins came to symbolize a year that she was to describe as her “annus horribilis” when with three of her children’s marriages ended, the most famous, of course, being that of Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, which erupted in the press.
The House of Windsor’s brand had become flammable, and the future popularity of the monarchy uncertain. Like many other historic state buildings, Windsor was not insured, and an announcement that?the taxpayers would pick up the tab for repairs caused an outcry. Eventually, the queen agreed to pay most of the cost. To generate extra income, Buckingham Palace was opened to the public for the first time.
Windsor Castle was rebuilt and restored to its place at the center of royal life and death, and gradually, the image and popularity of the royal family was restored. The death of both the Queen Mother at age 101 and Princess Margaret just months apart in 2002 revealed the depth of public affection. Thousands of people lined the streets of Windsor to pay their respects. Three years later, Windsor played host to the wedding of Prince Charles to Camilla Parker Bowles. After a civil ceremony in the town hall, a service of dedication and prayer was held in the chapel. If anything showed how the royal family had evolved, the marriage of Charles to Camilla, divorced and acknowledged as the prince’s mistress during his marriage to Diana, was that.
And now Windsor Castle has been the backdrop for the latest chapter of the royal family’s reinvention: the marriage of Prince Harry to Ms. Markle. But it remains to be seen whether welcoming a mixed-race divorced American into the family can sufficiently revive the brand and perhaps even ensure the survival of the British monarchy.
Yes, the royal family will now better reflect the reality of the families in modern Britain, but the institution of monarchy remains fundamentally unchanged, underpinned by strict hierarchy and inherited power and privilege. Whether it will retain the support of a majority of Britons keen to champion values of progress, merit and equality remains to be seen. Come what may, Windsor Castle, its history, its romance and its fairy-tale charm will continued to stand and captivate. If only walls could talk.
