Closed like all royal residences after the death of Sovereign Elizabeth II, Windsor Castle, located about forty kilometers west of London and where the Queen has lived since the Covid-19 pandemic, is a hot spot for British tourism. It reopened its doors this Thursday, September 29. Visitors will be able to see the tombstone of the late monarch, George VI, Elizabeth II’s father, who died in 1952, in the castle’s Gothic chapel.
The Queen, who died aged 96 after more than 70 years on the throne, was buried there alongside her husband Prince Philip, her parents and her sister on September 19, following her state funeral at London’s Westminster Abbey. Many tourists present on Thursday had pre-ordered the tickets. They thus appear among the first people gathered in this chapel.
“Something that only happens once in a lifetime”
Terence Tan, who had come from Singapore to visit London and its surroundings, rushed to get a ticket as soon as the castle’s reopening date was announced. “I wanted to see it because it’s something important, something that only happens once in a lifetime“, he explains. Like millions of Britons, Julie Davies and her husband Alan, who came from the suburbs of Liverpool, watched the funeral of Elizabeth II in front of their television. “Suddenly, when you actually see the castle, everything comes alivehe explains, visibly excited for a moment they’ll remember.All their lives“.
Windsor Castle received about 1.5 million visitors each year before the pandemic-induced drop in tourism. In London, the Queen’s Gallery reopened on September 22 at Buckingham Palace, but parts of the palace normally open to the public between July and October will not reopen, according to the Royal Collection Trust, which manages the royal residences.
Source: Le Figaro
