The Unofficial British Royal Family Pages

Sunday 18 November 2007

Of Fires and Festivities

The Diamond Wedding Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip occurs this coming week, with �low-key� but hopefully meaningful celebrations and observances planned. As I pondered what to write about it struck me that this 60^th anniversary is also the 15^th anniversary of the great fire at Windsor, and the 10^th anniversary of the completed restoration of Windsor Castle. The fire itself raged on the very day of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh�s 45^th wedding anniversary, and the restoration debuted in conjunction with their 50^th festivities.

The year 1992 was the Queen�s aptly titled �annus horribilis.� It was the year of the failure of the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of York, the year of the Princess Royal�s divorce, and shortly after the Queen made her famous remark the separation of the Prince and Princess of Wales completed the set. At the time I remember thinking that the Windsor fire was as much a symbol as it was a sad reality.

As someone who is keenly interested in history, and who loves art, antiques, and architecture, I recall the horror I felt when I first heard that Windsor Castle was burning. And through those first hours my greatest fear was that the fire might spread as far as the royal library with its totally irreplaceable collection of books and artifacts. The checking of the fire before it spread so far was a great relief, as was the news that much of the burnt area was actually empty of art and furnishings at the time of the fire because of the renovation project that also sparked the conflagration.

After the fire the public outcry against public funding of the restoration of the castle, which is after all owned by the nation, proved an unanticipated blessing. The undertaking by the royal household to both fund and supervise the work gave the current Mountbatten-Windsor family the chance to create what later generations will undoubtedly see as their greatest monument in brick and stone. Both the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales headed committees dealing with different aspects of the restoration. Most of the damaged spaces were restored to original designs from the era of George IV, and their miraculously preserved furnishings were put back in place. But three other spaces took on striking new forms.

Although the new St. George�s Hall bears a strong resemblance to its predecessor, the restoration came with exciting improvements. Above all, quite literally, is the oak hammerbeam roof created in place of the old plaster vault. The decision to install such a distinctively British ceiling greatly contributed not only to the aesthetics of Windsor, but also to reinvigorating the craft and inspiring the craftsfolk involved. Complementing the roof is the wonderful circular tracery in the overlooking gallery at the end of the hall, providing to my mind a strong evocation of Winchester�s historic round table, along with the mounted figure in the historic armour of the �King�s Champion� dramatically displayed before it.

The other two spaces were new creations within the burned out shell of the old private chapel and the so-called �Holbein Room.� During Queen Victoria�s time the chapel had been awkwardly inserted into what had been the bandroom of George IV�s era. The awkwardness was that the only way from the private and semi-state apartments of the castle over to St. George�s Hall and the state apartments was to go right through the chapel. Many readers of this will recall that it was actually the draperies used to conceal the altar area when the chapel was being used as a passageway that first caught fire in 1992, after brushing too closely to a hot light. Replacing it, a new small and fairly simple private chapel was created in the area of the old Holbein Room, with an altar table made by Princess Margaret�s son and a stained glass window based on a sketch by Prince Philip. In the old chapel space they created the magnificent new connecting lobby linking the east and north ranges of the castle. The new lantern lobby, gothic in style and evoking a cathedral chapterhouse in form with its great oak columns, will without doubt go down as the great innovation of the restoration. And in fact, it has been recognized as such from the get-go.

The five years of planning and construction following the fire culminated on the night of November 20, 1997, when the restored Windsor made its debut with a great ball for the gathered royal families of Europe who�d come to Britain to join the celebrations of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip�s Golden Wedding Anniversary. Seven kings, ten queens, a grand duke, twenty-six princes, and twenty-seven princesses were in attendance. Prince Edward chose the occasion to wear a spectacular pair of tartan trews (trousers). Windsor was back, and how!

Part of any long relationship is the accumulation of memories that accompanies it. I would hazard a guess that on this November 20 the memories of many other November 20s will be coming to mind in the course of the �happy couple�s� day. Some, like the day of the fire, may come with a shudder or sigh, others with a smile. This time around there is no great ball involving the crowned heads of Europe, but hopefully this particular anniversary will prove to be a day of warm smiles and deep satisfaction. And with any luck, in ten years some of us will be ruminating of the 70^th anniversary of Elizabeth and Philip.

Yours Aye,

- Ken Cuthbertson