Windsor Castle back in the limelight

Windsor Castle has been in the news this week for reasons that require no explanation.

- Roger Crutchley

Suffice to say the Brits are still quite good at putting on a show with plenty of horses, hats and bagpipes.

Having been born and raised in Reading about 30 kilometres up the River Thames from Windsor, the event evoked some memories. For a start, because of the regal presence at Windsor it meant I was brought up in the "Royal County” of Berkshire and not just any old county. Admittedly it didn’t really mean much apart from Reading football club being nicknamed “The Royals”.

My first visit to the castle was as a preteen. I can’t remember much about it except being slightly disappointed that Queen Elizabeth didn’t lean out of a castle turret and wave “hello” At the same time I was quite excited as it was my first visit to a real castle. In Reading we had a Castle Street and Castle Hill but alas no castle, well not since the 12th century anyway.

There is something about castles that trigger the imagination and I can understand why tourists, particularly Americans, get so excited about them. In fact I would say the American tourists know considerably more about British castles than the British.

I went to Windsor several times in the 1960s. As a teenager I remember playing in a football match for our school against a Windsor team in a park adjacent to the castle. Despite the fancy historical backdrop I had a poor game, possibly because I spent too much time looking at the touchline to see if the queen had come out to watch while taking her corgis for a walk.