HOME OF RULERS.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20496, 15 March 1932, Page 6

HOME OF RULERS.

w STORIES OF WINDSOR CASTLE. • (By T.C.L.) Windsor Castle holds a unique place in the affections of the people and in the . history of the nation.. Not only has it a commanding position, but it has been the continuous home of the rulers of England for 900 years. Dynasties have come and gone, Angles, Danes and Normans have imposed their rule over the country, but the monarehs of the day have ever dwelt in the castle. The land on which the castle stands once belonged to King Harold. His conqueror, William, first •ohose it as a place for fortifications. Twice was the castle besieged. Once in 1195 when adherents of the rebel Prince John tried to hold it for him, but gave up when the Prince decided to seek pardon from his King and brother, Richard I. The second siege ■was more serious. It happened 20 years later. John was then King of England, but his misrule had consolidated the opposition of tho most powerful of the barons, and Magna Charta was the result. The King repudiated his former acceptance of the "foundations of British liberties," and the barons took up arms, drawing upon friends and rolatives in France for help. It was an Anglo-French force that besieged Windsor Castle, and at one time it looked as though it might be taken. John reached Reading, a little further "clown the Thames than Windsor, with a large army to raise the siege. Theb he suddenly disappeared eastward, the besiegers thinking one of his attacks of cowardice had prevailed. To their consternation they loarned tho King and his troops had rushed to East Anglia, where they were harrying and laying wasto the properties of the recalcitrant barons there. So the forces wero withdrawn from Windsor to meet the perils nearer home, and never again was its position as the King's residence threatened. Even the Civil War in Stuart days passed lightly over Windsor. When the throne fell the canons wero evicted, some of the rich plate was sold, and some of the "idolatrous images" in St. George's Chapel were removed, but no structural damage occurred. That was left to the Restoration and Charles 1., and Charles 11. preferred comfort to stately architecture, and had no scruples in altering a palace building whatever its history. St. George's Chapel. It has been mentioned that besides being the residence of the Royal family Windsor is also the house of the most distinguished order of chivalry in the world, the Order of St. George. St. George's Chapel is the only chapel belonging to such an order. It represents the great iflcas of the Middle Ages that man's highest duty was to serve, and that such knightly service must be based on prayer. Hence came the twenty-six canons to sit in chapel alternately with the Kniglits and pray with them day by day; hence also camo the twenty-six poor knights to represent the others when their duties kept them from worship. The historian tells us that King Edward 111. chose out "a certain number of the most valiant men of tho realm. They swore and were sealed to maintain tho ordinances such as were devised because they saw it was a thing most honourable, and whereby great amity and love should grow and increase." The chapel is a worthy shrine to such an order. The architecture is | essentially English,, being perpendicular in style, arid in the extensive repairs I only just completed care has been taken ,to preserve the original features. The West side is nearly all stained windows and stone tracery. Over the carved stalls droop the banners of the Knights, and their swords and shields hang from the wall. Ninety examples in English enamel of the steel plates of the Knights form part of the interior possessions; indeed, no church in the kingdom outside Westminster Abbey has as many works of art and historic interest as this wonderful old chapel. The stalls in tho church are wonderfully carved, each one being a work of aft. The sculptors must have been finished artists with unbounded patience and industry. Then there is tho iron-work that but for the feast of other treasures would be regarded as outstanding in a less favoured sotting. Tombs of Kings. In this Chapel are the tombs of the Kings of England, representing as they do every dynasty that has occupied the throne of England. That ambitious figure, Cardinal Wolsey, designed a wonderful tomb for himself, but it was annexed by that enterprising monarch, Henry VIII., for a similar - purpose. Henry, being dead, his wishes did not count for much. At all events the sarcophagus was unused, and when Puritan rule obtained the authorities were scandalised by the "images of saints and angels," with which it was richly embellished. They put the stonework into storage and sold the brasswork for £4OO. A little over a century and a-half later, in 1806, tho question of a fitting tomb for Nelson of Trafalgar came up for consideration. Someone remembered the Wolsey .sarcophagus. Royalty agreed to its use, and the tomb of one of Britain's greatest heroes is marked by what was intendeJ for the glorification of an astute and unscrupulous politician-prelate. There have been many impressive spectacles of royal burials in the Chapel of St. George. But perhaps the simplest 'ot them all was the most affecting. After his jexecution leave was given for the burial of Charles I. at Windsor. The picture of the ceremony wil[ live long. The coffin and its pall, deeply covered with the snow that had overwhelmed the whole countryside that day, was attended by a handful of melancholy royalists headed by the intrepid Bishop Juxon, who had accompanied his royal master in the awful hour at Whitehall.' At tho side of one of the magnificent stalls* a grave had been dug, towards which the procession walked slowly. In the dim light of torches, and in silence, the burial proceeded. Beyond {he few royalists stood ranks of Parliamentary musketeers waiting to ' see that no demonstration should be made and unruly words uttered. Silently the coffin was lowered, Sfor the bishop was not permitted to read the burial service of the Church of England over his master's body, and then the quiet withdrawal of the. mourners into the wintry night,' followed bv the tramp, tramp, tramp of the armed men. The Chapel has seen no funeral ceremony more unique, more thrilling nor more effective in unconscious pageantry. But there were lighter moments connected with the Chapel, for it is worthy of note that Shakespeare's "Melry Wives of Windsor" was first performed for Queen Elizabeth by St. George's Choristers. The library of the castle contains maffv books that are irreplaceable and priceless. The same may be said of the collection of drawings and the French furniture collected during the Revolution. Windsor Castle embodies the characteristics as well as the history of the

CASTLE.

nation. In this respect it is unique. Versailles represents but one epoch of French history; the Doges' Palace recalls a history that is over; Potsdam stood for a dynasty that is now dead. Windsor Castle is alive to-day as it was 900 years ago, and plays just as an important part in the life of the nation as it has ever done.