Windsor Castle has been the home of British kings and queens for almost 1,000 years. It is an official residence of Queen Elizabeth II, whose standard flies from the Round Tower when Her Majesty is in residence. The Queen spends most of her private weekends at Windsor Castle and takes up official residence for a month over Easter, known as ‘Easter Court’. The Queen is also at Windsor for one week each June, while attending Royal Ascot and the service of the Order of the Garter at St George’s Chapel. Windsor Castle is still very much a working royal palace and is regularly used for ceremonial and State occasions, including official visits from overseas Heads of State. St George’s Hall makes a spectacular setting for a State Banquet, when a table seating 160 guests is decorated with porcelain and silver-gilt from the Royal Collection.

While it was William the Conqueror who first built the castle, he didn’t live in the castle, it was used as a defensive base at the time. The Castle has been enlarged and restructured by different kings and queens during their reigns. Find out more about who built the Castle. The first king to use Windsor Castle as a residence was Henry I. Henry’s marriage to Adela, the daughter of Godfrey of Louvain, took place in the Castle in 1121. The first Plantagenet king, Henry II, lived at Windsor and built extensively there between 1165 and 1179. Windsor was also one of the favourite residences of Henry III, and he invested heavily in the royal accommodation at the Castle during his reign from 1216. It was Edward III who left the greatest impression on Windsor in the 14th-century. Windsor was the intended centre of his court and government, and the seat of the newly founded Order of the Garter.