Windsor is a historic
market town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and
Maidenhead in Berkshire. Having successfully regained the
Bruce-Partington (Submarine) Plans (in the story of the same name),
Watson tells us that Holmes 'spent
a day at Windsor, whence he returned with a remarkably fine emerald
tie-pin'.
It seems likely that his destination was Windsor
Castle, then the official residence of the reigning English monarch.
Queen Victoria, who reigned from 1837 to 1901, must have been the
queen who presented Holmes with his emerald tie-pin, since the story
takes place in 1895. (Holmes himself clearly felt patriotic
sentiments towards her, due to the "VR" for Victoria Regina
that he inscribed on Mrs. Hudson's wall in bullet-holes). The first
castle on the site was built by William the Conqueror nearly a
thousand years ago. Under Queen Victoria's reign, an extensive
renovation was completed, and parts of the castle were opened to the
public. Victoria spent the greatest portion of each year at Windsor,
Albert preferring it to smoky London. It was also here that she
proposed to Albert (you can't propose to a Queen!).
However, the castle also has another Sherlockian link. In 1910,
Victoria's grandson ascended to the throne as George V, succeeding
his father Edward VII. His queen was Queen Mary, whose cousin,
Princess Marie Louise, came up with the idea of a doll's house for
the castle. It was to be created as a gift to Queen Mary from the
people, and to serve as an historical document on how a royal family
might have lived during that period in England. She discussed her
idea with one of the top architects of the time, Sir Edwin Lutyens,
at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition of 1921. Sir Edwin agreed to
construct the dolls' house and began preparations, with the house
being completed in 1924. Princess Marie Louise had many connections
in the arts and arranged for the top artists and craftsmen of the
time to contribute their special abilities to the house. As a result,
the dolls' house had an amazing collection of miniature items that
actually work, many of which are 1/12 replicas of items in the
Castle. The carpets, curtains and furnishings were all copies of the
real thing, and even the light fittings worked. The bathrooms were
fully plumbed, with a flushable toilet and miniature lavatory paper.
In addition, well-known writers wrote special books for the house's
library, which were bound in scale size by Sangorski & Sutcliffe.
These included Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who contributed a new short
story “How Watson Learned The Trick”. Conan Doyle was provided
with a book approximately into which he wrote the 503-word story by
hand, taking up 34 pages. The original manuscript is still part of
the Dolls' House library, and in 2014, a facsimile
edition was released of the tiny book. The Doll House Library also includes a facsimile scale 'Strand Magazine'. Other
authors involved in providing books included M. R. James, A. A.
Milne, J. M. Barrie, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling and W. Somerset
Maugham. Each book had a book-plate designed by Ernest Shepard,
famous for the original illustrations for 'Winnie the Pooh' and 'The
Wind in the Willows'.
I therefore decided to
spend a day in Windsor myself, and not unsurprisingly having arrived at Windsor and Eton Riverside, my first port
of call was the Castle.
Having negotiated the airport style
metal-detectors which were certainly not there when Holmes visited,
and picked up an audio-guide, I started my visit by visiting St.
George's Chapel where Henry VII, Charles I and the present Queen's
parents are buried. It is also the spiritual home of the Knights of
the Garter. As a place of regular worship, photography was
prohibited inside.
Next up was a Changing
of the Guard. The soldiers on sentry duty within the castle precincts
are drawn from the five regiments of Foot Guards - Coldstream,
Grenadier, Scots, Irish, Welsh - with one battalion always stationed
at Windsor. The daily changeover takes place at 11am on the parade
ground in the Lower Ward, and includes a military band (whose
repertoire seemed to include The Beatles).
I then made my way to
the State Apartments, visiting the Queen Mary Dolls House first
(where as in the rest of the Apartments photography was prohibited).
Peering into the Library, which occupies the full width of the west
side at ground level, I was unable to pick out HWLTT. Moving into the
Apartments proper, up the Grand Staircase, through a large number of
gigantic halls full of artworks (including Bruegel the Elder's 'The
Massacre of the Innocents'), I finally found myself in the Queen's
Audience Chamber, made for Catherine of Braganza (Charles II's
consort), which would have been the location of Holmes' audience with
Victoria.
Having browsed the gift
shop which had no emerald tie-pins (but I did purchase a golden crown
pin and two guidebooks), I made my way back into the centre of
Windsor to get a bite to eat.
For my afternoon's
entertainment, I crossed the River Thames using Windsor Bridge, to
find myself in Eton, a town and civil parish in the ceremonial county
of Berkshire, but within the historic boundaries of Buckinghamshire.
The point of Sherlockian interest was Eton College, founded in 1440
by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton
besides Wyndsor", making it the 18th oldest Headmasters' and
Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) school. Eton is one of the original
seven public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868.
Following the public school tradition, Eton is a full boarding
school, which means all pupils live at the school, and it is one of
four such remaining single-sex boys' public schools in the United
Kingdom (the others being Harrow, Radley, and Winchester) to continue
this practice. Eton has educated 19 British prime ministers
(including possibly 'Lord Bellinger' from “The Second Stain”) and
generations of the aristocracy and has been referred to as the chief
nurse of England's statesmen. It was also the school attended by
Jeremy Huggins, who under his stage name Jeremy Brett played a
certain detective on TV. However, it was for its appearance in a
non-canonical story that I wished to visit, as in 1985 it became one
of the main locations used for the fictional Brompton School in
“Young Sherlock Holmes” (the others being Brasenose College and
Radley College, both in Oxford). There are several scenes of the
College Chapel, and the main courtyard with its statue of Henry VI in
the background. (The college also appeared in an iconic scene in
“Chariots of Fire”).
I had therefore booked
for one of the college's Friday tours, and was ready at the gate to
the College Chapel graveyard at the appointed time.
The tour covered
the School Yard, College Chapel, Upper School, Lower School, Verey
Gallery and the Museum of Eton Life. Having taken multiple
photos of the School Yard, photography was rightly banned in the
Chapel, so I concentrated on the well-informed guide outlining the
history of this august institution.
Having visited the
historic classrooms and an exhibition by Norman Ackroyd of etchings
of the most remote parts of the British Isles in the Gallery, we
ended in the Museum. I was pleased to see Brett on the wall of famous
Old Etonians.
Having completed a feedback form, I handed back my
visitors pass, and exited the College.
To round off my day in
Windsor, I was intending to take in a production of 'Trespass' an
Emlyn Williams thriller at the Theatre Royal Windsor, starring
Rebecca Wheatley ('Casualty'), Judy Buxton ('On The Up'), Michelle
Morris (school secretary in DW story 'Into The Dalek') and David
Callister ('The Bill'). However, just over a week before I was phoned
by the theatre to state that the production had been cancelled.
Therefore earlier than originally planned, I wended my way home,
ready for another non-Sherlockian pilgrimage the next day.
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