The security of Windsor Castle has been an important issue since

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original cast ...

's foundation in the 11th century.

Medieval and Tudor periods

Windsor Castle originally became a royal residence because of the protection it could afford to

Henry I Henry I may refer to: 876–1366 * Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936) * Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955) * Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018) * Henry I of France (1008–1060) * Henry I the Long, Margrave of the No ...

. Successive medieval and Tudor monarchs made use of the castle during revolts, plagues and other crises, including

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

and

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

Georgian and Victorian periods

By the 1740s, security at Windsor Castle had diminished markedly and the site had become an early tourist attraction; wealthy visitors who could afford to pay the castle keeper could enter and stroll around the castle. As the condition of the State Apartments continued to deteriorate, even the general public were able to regularly visit the property, with children and others playing in the castle yards.

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

gradually reversed this trend when he came to the throne in 1760. This trend continued during the reign of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

, when the Windsor Castle and Town Approaches Act was passed by Parliament, permitting the closing and re-routing of the old roads which previously ran through the park from Windsor to

Datchet Datchet is a village and civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England, located on the north bank of the River Thames. Historically part of Buckinghamshire, and the Stoke Hundred, the village was eventually tr ...

and

Old Windsor Old Windsor is a large village and civil parish, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, in Berkshire, England. It is bounded by the River Thames to the east and the Windsor Great Park to the west. Etymology The name originates from old ...

. These changes allowed the Royal Family to undertake the enclosure of a large area of parkland to form the private "Home Park" with no public roads passing through it, creating a much more private and secure royal palace than had previously been the case.

Modern day

Although this has been less well publicised than Buckingham Palace, security at Windsor Castle has occasionally been breached, most seriously in 2003 when an intruder (the self-styled "comedy terrorist",

Aaron Barschak Aaron Alexander Barschak (born 1966 in Southwark, London) is an English self-styled "comedy terrorist" and fringe UK politician. In 2003, he attracted media attention by gatecrashing Prince William's 21st birthday party. Background Aaron Barsch ...

) "gate-crashed" the 21st birthday party of

Prince William William, Prince of Wales, (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982) is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. Born in London, William was educat ...

, but most recently in March 2012, when an intoxicated man scaled a fence and got within yards of the Queen's private apartments before being arrested by armed protection officers. Police from the

Thames Valley Police Thames Valley Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Thames Valley, covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. It the largest non-metropolitan police force in England and Wales, covering a ...

and from the

Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Department The Protection Command is one of the commands within the Specialist Operations directorate of London's Metropolitan Police Service. The command specialises in protective security and has two branches: Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP), prov ...

of the London

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

provide the main element of physical security. The Windsor Castle Guard of the Foot Guards of the

Household Division Household Division is a term used principally in the Commonwealth of Nations to describe a country's most elite or historically senior military units, or those military units that provide ceremonial or protective functions associated directly with ...

, provided by a

public duties Public duties are performed by military personnel, and usually have a ceremonial or historic significance rather than an overtly operational role. Armenia Since September 2018, the Honour Guard Battalion of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia has ...

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

in London, or by the battalion at Victoria Barracks,

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area *Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wind ...

, contributes to this. The Foot Guards battalion at Victoria Barracks, a quarter of a mile from the Castle, is supported by the

armoured reconnaissance Armoured reconnaissance is the combination of terrestrial reconnaissance with armoured warfare by soldiers using tanks and wheeled or tracked armoured reconnaissance vehicles. While the mission of reconnaissance is to gather intelligence about ...

squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, de ...

of the

Household Cavalry The Household Cavalry (HCav) is made up of the two most senior regiments of the British Army, the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons). These regiments are divided between the Household Cavalry Regiment st ...

based at

Combermere Barracks Combermere Barracks, Windsor, is a British military installation from Windsor Castle. History The original barracks, known as Clewer Barracks, were designed to accommodate the Royal Horse Guards and were built at Clewer Park between 1796 and 1 ...

, Windsor, one mile (1.6 km) from the Castle. In times of emergency at the castle, several hundred soldiers, as well as the

FV107 Scimitar The FV107 Scimitar is an armoured tracked military reconnaissance vehicle (sometimes classed as a light tank) used by the British Army. It was manufactured by Alvis in Coventry. It is very similar to the FV101 Scorpion, but mounts a high-veloci ...

Light Tanks of the

, would be able to respond quickly to protect the castle and its occupants. All visitors are asked to go through airport style security, with luggage being X-rayed and persons walking through a metal detector. On 1 June 2007, the castle and its grounds were designated as a protected site for the purposes of Section 128 of the

Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 The Serious Organized Crime and Police Act 2005 (c.15) (often abbreviated to SOCPA or SOCAP) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom aimed primarily at creating the Serious Organised Crime Agency. It also significantly extended and si ...

. The effect of the act was to make it a specific criminal offence for a person to

trespass Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, wounding ...

into the castle or its grounds.

References

Citations

Bibliography

*Robinson, John Martin. (2010)
Windsor Castle: the Official Illustrated History.
' London: Royal Collection Publications. . *

Rowse, A. L. Alfred Leslie Rowse (4 December 1903 – 3 October 1997) was a British historian and writer, best known for his work on Elizabethan England and books relating to Cornwall. Born in Cornwall and raised in modest circumstances, he was encoura ...

(1974)
Windsor Castle in the History of the Nation.
' London: Book Club Associates. . *South, Raymond. (1977)
The Book of Windsor.
' Chesham, UK: Barracuda Books. . *Tighe, Robert Richard and

James Edward Davis James Edward Davis (1817 - 1887) was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1842, was stipendiary magistrate at Stoke upon Trent from 1864 to 1870, was police magistrate at Sheffield from 1870 to 1874, and was a friend of Leigh Hunt. Works D ...

. (1858)
Annals of Windsor, being a history of the castle and town, with some account of Eton and places adjacent, volume II.
' London: Longman. *Tite, Catherine. (2010)
Portraiture, Dynasty and Power: Art Patronage in Hanoverian Britain, 1714-1759.
' Amherst, US: Cambria Press. {{ISBN, 978-1-60497-678-6. Windsor Castle