Regal splendour and renewal

Windsor Castle, Berkshire An official residence of His Majesty King Charles III As the new reign begins, John Martin Robinson takes an exclusive look at the recently completed representation of the State Apartments at Windsor Castle

- John Martin Robinson

THE State Apartments in the Upper Ward at Windsor Castle occupy the shell of a palace constructed in the 14th century by Edward III. These interiors have been repeatedly reworked on the most opulent scale by a succession of monarchs (Fig 2), with particularly notable changes undertaken by the architect Hugh May for Charles II in the 1670s; by James Wyatt for George III in the 1790s; by Jeffry Wyatville for George IV from 1824 and by Anthony Salvin for Prince Albert and Queen Victoria. More recently, the disastrous fire in November 1992 prompted a massive programme of rebuilding and restoration. It was in the course of these works that the then director of the Royal Collection from 1996 to 2010, Sir Hugh Roberts, first conceived the idea for upgrading the surviving historic State Apartments in the building with a view to enhancing their appearance and modernising visitor facilities.

This Future Programme of improvements —as this project came to be described—was formally announced in April 2016. Sir Jonathan Marsden, who succeeded as director in 2010, organised special sessions with heritage professionals to discuss the proposals and develop them. They were planned in tandem with a similar programme at Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. Work at both palaces started in 2017, shortly before Tim Knox took over as director of the Royal Collection in March 2018. They then proceeded under his direction until their completion in mid-2020, amid the covid lockdowns. The project has been almost entirely self-funded by the Royal Collection Trust (RCT), on which the pandemic had a dramatic financial impact.