Day 16-Windsor Castle

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! (They don't observe that here in England)

We woke up and were downstairs for breakfast by 7:30am, enjoying a nice meal of cereal, eggs (fried or scrambled), bacon (well, a Londoner's version of bacon which is more like what we consider Canadian bacon in the states) toast and orange juice. We also had a nice view of the back garden with squirrels scampering about, birds flitting about and a cat prowling about but, thankfully, never being successful in its hunting.

Cindy's dad has 2 cousins who live in London; Jenny, who is married to Frank has a son named Harry and a younger son named Joe, and her sister Julie. Over the past few years they have been researching the family history, discovering that my father-in-law's great-grandfather George was the chief bailiff of The Great Park at Windsor Castle for Queen Victoria. One of the buildings within The Great Park (and it is indeed "Great" at 19 square kilometers in size) is the Cumberland Lodge, where George met his wife Harriet whose mother Mary was the Head Housekeeper. Our plan today was to visit Windsor Castle, meet the Director of Cumberland Lodge, Dr. Alistair Niven, at 4pm for a specially arranged tour (Cumberland Lodge is currently used for special conferences and is off limits to the public, but Dr. Niven graciously gave us permission to visit), and then visit the cemetery where George is buried.

Jenny and Frank picked us up at 10am and took us to Julie's where we picked her up and we were off to visit the Queen. Our first stop was the actual town of Windsor, just outside the castle, for a bite of lunch at a nice little cafe named McCluskey's. Just down from where we had lunch is Windsor's Guildhall where Prince Charles and Camilla had their civil wedding ceremony last year. I mention that only as a point of geographical reference for followers of the royal family.

From there we entered the Windsor Castle grounds and walked around the outdoor parts that were open to the public. In one of the pictures I'm including there is a shot of an open area with a wall containing several windows and I have a big black arrow pointing to a specific window. The open area is the inner courtyard and is not accessible by the public. When we were touring inside the castle (where no pictures are allowed, of course) we were walking through this section and suddenly everyone was crowding around the windows that you see and pointing out into the inner courtyard. It turns out the Queen was on the opposite side of the courtyard with a group of people, one of which looked like Camilla from a distance. A few moments after that we went outside and I shot a picture, which I've included, before security shooed me away. Unfortunately, as you can see (or not see as the case may be), the Queen moved behind someone just as I shot the picture. Still, I've indicated with an arrow where she was.

We left Windsor Castle and drove out to Cumberland Lodge for our appointment with Dr. Niven. He was kind enough to give us a quick tour of the first floor and then had to leave for another appointment, allowing us unfettered access to the second and third floors, and pointing out areas we might find of particular interest. His only request was that we not photograph the hallway walls as they contained works of art which are the property of Her Majesty. In an interesting twist, it turns out that his office was the very room which my father-in-law's great-great-grandmother Mary ran the household out of for most of her tenure. I've included a couple of photos of Cindy, her father, Jenny and Julie in different parts of the room. Note the floor to ceiling cabinets, used to hold the household linens.

We spent a good amount of time looking through the building, walking where we thought George, Harriet and Mary may have walked themselves, imagining them going about their day's work. Dr. Niven also opened up another area of research for the family when he mentioned that he had recalled reading in Queen Victoria's diary that George had saved the Queen's life once when the horse pulling her carriage had become spooked and was racing out of control with the Queen inside the carriage. We already knew that he had played a great part in containing and putting out a fire that had swept through the Lodge, but this information about saving the Queen's life was new and will be researched further.

We did a little searching for a place nearby called Ivy Cottage, where George lived, and there were a couple of places where Jenny and Julie thought it might have once stood, but we could never be sure. There will be further investigation into that as well.

We departed the Great Park and drove a few miles further out to the cemetery where George, Harriet and Mary were all buried. This was a church cemetery (the church is still active) and George and Harriet were married in this same church. The sun was dipping low in the sky as nighttime approached, but we took several photos and video of family members around the gravesite.

Then it was back to Windsor town for dinner at Cafe Rouge and a long drive to our B & B after a full, enjoyable day of spending time with family here and family departed.

Tomorrow: Our last full day in London.

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