There are plenty of big houses in the world; however, some are bigger than others, and one is unarguably the largest – that, of course, would be the Windsor Castle, at an approximated 484,000 square feet. This house is no joke.
Windsor Castle dates back to the times of William the Conqueror, King of England in the eleventh century. Located in Windsor, England, the biggest house in the world belongs to the British Monarch – Queen Elizabeth II; however, Windsor Castle has a lengthy history.
Let’s see, we may as well start at the beginning with a quick account of how Windsor Castle came to be. Once upon a time Windsor Castle was the site of the Manor of Clewer, property of King Harold Godwinson, son of Godwin. Unfortunately for King Harold, he wouldn’t remain the owner of the Manor of Clewer for long, as he was killed in battle defending England from William the Conqueror, also known as William the Bastard, as the French preferred to refer to him as, seeing how he was the product of an illegitimate birth.
Windsor Castle, England
One beautiful spring day in 1066 William invaded England with his army of Frenchmen, Normans, Bretons, and Flemings, later to become known as the Norman Conquest of England. Victory was achieved on October 14, 1066, during the historic Battle of Hastings, the day King Harold fell to the invasion.
After William conquered England, he handed the Manor of Clewer over to Ralph, son of Seifride. Shortly afterwards, the manor was renamed Windsor Castle, named for King Harold’s nearby residence. For the next couple hundred years, the castle belonged to descendants of William.
In the 1300s, Edward of Windsor, King Edward III, began a 24-year rebuild of the castle. The rebuild consisted of demolishing the existing building and starting from scratch. During the 1400s, King Edward the IV began construction of St. George’s Chapel.
When the Black Death (Bubonic Plague) hit in the 1500s, Elizabeth I left London to hopefully avoid the plague at Windsor Castle. Elizabeth even went to the length of having gallows erected to execute anyone known to be visiting from London.
After Elizabeth I, came James I, and then his son Charles I, who remained owner until his deposition during the English Civil War, between 1641 and 1651. After the war, the castle became the headquarters of Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army.
Several other monarchs claimed ownership to the castle throughout the 1700s and 1800s, including Charles II, King George III, King George IV, plus Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who made the castle their principal residence.
King Edward VII became owner early in the twentieth century, until his successor George V, king between 1910 and 1936. King George VI, his wife Queen Elizabeth, and their daughter, also the castle’s current owner, Queen Elizabeth II stayed at Windsor Castle during World War II. Queen Elizabeth then took the throne in 1952 and is known to have made Windsor Castle her weekend retreat.
See more:
Britannia: History of Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle Timeline of Important Dates
Wikipedia: Windsor Castle
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I guess so long as the Queen resides at this castle, it can be called a home! I bet Queen Elizabeth II gets lost in Windsor Castle all the time!
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Nice to have a refresher on some history of my mother’s native land. Having visited Windsor castle, I can tell you it certainly lives up to the hype!
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Holy Cow! That house is enormous, and I bet it would take a life time to see all of it. The video was amazing, very beautiful, and it makes me want to be a queen!
Makes me wonder how much taxpayer money it takes to keep this place running for a year.
This is really amazing. That is a huge house. I couldn’t live in a house that big. Not only would it be scary but I would get lost.
Could you imagine if they decided to redecorate? The cost would be unbelievable! A beautiful house indeed.
Omigosh! Is it real? I just thought castles are just in fairy tales… oh wow! i would love to see that someday… man! i wonder what’s its worth if ever they’re going to sell that hehe! It’s like living in fairy tales again… whew!
If you were listing it what would you value it at and where would you get comparables?
Although this is owned by the monarchy I wonder how much this house would retail for and the mortgage rates applicable! lol. On a serious note this is a truly wonderful building with an excellent history.