Windsor Castle was built on the orders of William the Conqueror in the 11th century, originally to defend London from the west. Nearly a thousand years later, it remains the longest continuously inhabited royal castle in the world, which is a record that speaks for itself.
The story of its evolution is really the story of the English monarchy. Henry II replaced the original timber walls with stone. George IV raised the Round Tower by ten metres and added the turrets and battlements that now define its silhouette. Victoria proposed to Prince Albert here, honeymooned here and mourned him here, earning herself the name the Widow of Windsor. During World War II, the Luftwaffe apparently had orders not to bomb it. Hitler had earmarked it as his own headquarters.
VoiceMap's "The House of Windsor: 1,000 Years of Royal History" tour uses the castle as a spine for the full sweep of British royal history, tracing each monarch's additions and revealing the personal dramas, dynastic crises and wartime secrets woven into its walls.