when did windsor castle open to the public
Windsor Castle George I took little interest in Windsor Castle, preferring his other palaces at St James's, Hampton Court and Kensington.[164] George II rarely used Windsor either, preferring Hampton Court.[165] Many of the apartments in the Upper Ward were given out as "grace and favour" privileges for the use of prominent widows or other friends of the Crown.[166] The Duke of Cumberland made the most use of the property in his role as the Ranger of Windsor Great Park.[167] By the 1740s, Windsor Castle had become an early tourist attraction; wealthier visitors who could afford to pay the castle keeper could enter, see curiosities such as the castle's narwhal horn, and by the 1750s buy the first guidebooks to Windsor, produced by George Bickham in 1753 and Joseph Pote in 1755.[168] [nb 9] As the condition of the State Apartments continued to deteriorate, even the general public were able to regularly visit the property.[170]
House of Windsor The House of Windsor is the royal house of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms. The dynasty is of German paternal descent and was originally a branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, itself derived from the House of Wettin, and it succeeded the House of Hanover as monarchs in the British Empire following the death of Queen Victoria, wife of Albert, Prince Consort. The houses of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Windsor have provided five British monarchs to date, including four kings and the present queen, Elizabeth II.