Residents who live near Windsor Castle have expressed their fury with King Charles over plans to charge them an entry free to visit the landmark for the first time in 200 years.
From June 1 the 31,500 residents of Windsor and Maidenhead have been told they can no longer visit the royal castle on their doorstep for free and must pay 50 per cent of the gate charge.
So instead of showing their Advantage Card and being waved through as before the £33 entrance fee now applies to them and locals will now have to cough up £16.50 to visit.
Locals have called the decision an ‘absolute disgrace’ that has ‘really upset a lot of people’.
Some residents have said they will no longer visit and said ‘Windsor Castle can go to hell on a handcart’.
From June 1 the 31,500 residents of Windsor and Maidenhead have been told they can no longer visit Windsor Castle for free
Windsor teacher Richard Endacott, 49, and his mother former Deputy Mayor of Windsor & Maidenhead Cynthia Endacott (now deceased). He said he takes his family up there free two or three times a year and has called on the King to look at the situation
Windsor Lib-Dem parliamentary candidate Julian Tisi (pictured) said: ‘For many of us who live here in visiting the Castle for free is a great pleasure and long should this old tradition continue’
Queen Victoria in 1837 introduced the first ever free tickets into her favourite residence and decreed her loyal local subjects should never have to pay to enter the historic gates.
Entrance to the world’s oldest inhabited castle – the ancestral home to 40 Kings & Queens since William the Conqueror began building it in 1070 – was free to everyone until 1992.
Following the Great Fire which devastated the Castle in that year causing £36.5m of damage it was decided to charge visitors an £8 entrance fee to help pay for years of restoration.
But the late Queen Elizabeth II following in Queen Victoria’s footsteps again ruled that the local residents should be excluded from payment and would still be allowed to enter free.
However the Royal Collection Trust who control all the Royal residences and the world’s biggest art collection housed in them are planning an end to two centuries of tradition.
Free visiting into Windsor Castle first began in 1825 when a visitor’s entrance was created and when Queen Victoria took the throne in 1837 she created a free ticketing system.
Entrance to the world’s oldest inhabited castle – the ancestral home to 40 Kings & Queens since William the Conqueror began building it in 1070 – was free to everyone until 1992. Pictured: Guards change at Windsor Castle on March 23, 2024
Tickets could be obtained at the Lord Chamberlain’s Office or selected book sellers and after a train link to Windsor was added in 1851 it was soon receiving 40,000 visitors a year.
But now despite 1.5m tourists flocking to the Castle each year fed-up locals who in return for putting up with huge crowds, road closures and overflowing car parks will have to pay.
A Windsor Castle source said: ‘Everything that they do is ultimately overseen and it may well be that King Charles could step in.’
An RCT spokesman said that it regularly reviewed its pricing.
Windsor Lib-Dem parliamentary candidate Julian Tisi said: ‘For many of us who live here in visiting the Castle for free is a great pleasure and long should this old tradition continue.
‘I’m calling on the Royal Collection Trust to reconsider this decision and sit down with me and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council and come to an arrangement.
‘I am sure we can work something out that still gives free access to the Castle for residents.
Former royal guardsman Paul Oatway, 60, who has guarded the Queen at Windsor Castle and is furious at plans to charge locals entry to Windsor Castle
The event saw many of the guests break their fasts with coconut water and dates at the royal residence
‘Basically local residents love having Windsor Castle on their doorstep and when friends and relatives visit they take them up there as full paying tourists acting as free tour guides.
‘Most Windsorians are proud to have the Castle on our front doorstep and love the Royal connection and it has always been the expectation that entrance to go in has been free.
‘We just think the Royal Collection Trust has got this decision wrong and misjudged it as to be honest not that many locals out of the 31,000 residents will actually visit it regularly.
‘There is enough to be made from the 1.5m tourists going through the gates each year and the locals deserve something back for welcoming so many tourists into their town’ he said.
Chartered accountant Julian, 52, who is a councillor for Windsor & Eton Ward has set up a petition for local people to ask the Royal Collection Trust to change its mind on charging.
His wife Councillor Amy Tisi who is Lead Member for Windsor said: ‘I am shocked that the free entry offer has been withdrawn for residents without any consultation with the town.
‘We consider those in the “big house on the hill” to be our neighbours and we want to work with them on this to ensure that no resident is priced out of visiting our Castle’ she said.
Furious local resident and former Grenadier Guards Sergeant Paul Oatway, 60, served in the British Army for 12 years including two tours of Northern Ireland and tours in Africa.
Paul said: ‘In my time I must have done guard duties inside Windsor Castle some 30 times and from my front garden I look out and I can see the Union Jack flying up on it every day.
‘For them to tell me I now have to pay to go in is an absolute disgrace.
‘Especially in summer the town is packed full of coaches and cars rammed with tourists and the roads are shut twice a day for the Changing of the Guard but we put up with all that.
‘We can’t park our cars and the prices in all the cafes and restaurants are sky high for the tourists but it has always been a thank you from the Royals to visit and not pay for entry.
‘It has always been that deal between the Crown & Town and this will really upset a lot of people and I think King Charles who may not be aware of this to step in and sort this out.
‘The Royal Collection Trust need to know that the local people have been going in and out of the Castle for free for centuries now and it is disgraceful to now ask us to pay’ he said.
Another resident Michelle Farmer said on a Facebook post that has already got over 200 angry locals hot under the collar: ‘I am 100% absolutely fuming having just read this.
‘I take so many of my family and friends who visit me round Windsor Castle when they visit so I am actually taking revenue to them but they want to charge me? I am just so gutted’.
Queen Victoria (pictured in 1897) in 1837 introduced the first ever free tickets into her favourite residence and decreed her loyal local subjects should never have to pay to enter the historic gates
Another Robyn Bass said: ‘I am not signing any petition begging to go back in there for free. Windsor Castle can go to hell on a handcart and I won’t take friends and family there again.
‘I will take them elsewhere and not cross the threshold into Windsor Castle ever again. A bit of advice to the Crown Estate managers – upset your neighbours at your peril’ she said.
William the Conqueror chose the site for Windsor Castle in 1070 when he became King in 1066 following the Norman Invasion and successive monarchs have built the Castle up.
It is also home to St George’s Chapel where the Queen and Prince Philip are interred in the Royal Vaults along with 10 previous monarchs including Kings Edward IV and Henry VIII.
The late Queen saw it as her favourite home throughout her reign which began in 1952 and lasted 70 years until her death in 2022 when King Charles III finally took the throne.
However Charles does not share his mother’s love for Windsor Castle and rarely stays there except for many Sundays just to visit son and heir Prince William who lives in the grounds.
He prefers to stay at Highgrove and due to his cancer treatment stays in London at Clarence House and royal insiders say Charles also does not like jets overflying Windsor to Heathrow.
It is believed that members of the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead Council will be visiting members of the Royal Collection Trust this week to try and reverse the decision.
A Windsor Castle source said: ‘This is a decision of the Royal Collection Trust but everything that they do is ultimately overseen and it may well be that King Charles could step in.
‘He may very well not be aware of this decision but it is a decision being made on his watch.
‘Charles knows well his mother’s love for Windsor Castle and the locals outside the gates. He has spent much of his time in Windsor and his son’s both served in the army there.
‘If he is not aware he soon will be and his views may differ to the Royal Collection Trust.’
Father-of-two and former West Windsor Residents Association chairman Richard Endacott, 49, and a teacher in the town said: ‘I take my family up there free 2 or 3 times a year.
‘We always go at Christmas as there trees and decorations are up and there are carols being sung and it is a lovely little perk of sharing a royal town with the royal family in the Castle.
‘There are not many perks in life but here at Windsor we do welcome the tourists and what they bring but they do pack the town centre and make driving in to park near impossible.
‘Twice a day all the traffic stops for half an hour each time for the Changing of the Guard but we accept that with good grace along with the higher prices that tourism brings us.
‘But the recompense has always been free entry into Windsor Castle and the few thousand that will actually take that up each year is just a tiny drop in the ocean in any lost revenue.
‘They make enough money from the one or two million visitors or whatever it is visitors they get each year going through the gate at £33 a time to continue letting us in for free.
‘I do hope King Charles has a look at this and continues in a long tradition of former Kings & Queens to treat his local townsfolk well and let us come up the hill and visit for free’ he said.