You Can Now Have Afternoon Tea at Queen Elizabeth's Home, Windsor Castle
Want a lunch fit for a queen? It may be worth a trip to England.
Queen Elizabeth's weekend residence, Windsor Castle, just opened its first restaurant. The café is located in Edward III's medieval undercroft (a cellar or storage room), which has been used for centuries as the estate's wine cellar. It is one of the oldest spaces in the 1,000-year-old castle and is now open to the public as the aptly-named Undercroft Café, a historic spot for lunch or tea.
"We hope that our visitors will enjoy the opportunity to pause for a cup of tea or a bite to eat while taking in the atmospheric surroundings of the Undercroft, one of the few surviving parts of Edward III’s magnificent Gothic palace," said Michelle Lockhart of the Royal Collection Trust, the department of the Royal Household that cares for the Royal Collection.
The palace, located in the English county of Berkshire, is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world, and the Queen spends many of her private weekends there. Is has also served as the venue for numerous royal weddings, including Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's in 2018.
While visitors can't stay in this landmark building, guests can pretend to be King or Queen for the day, touring the grounds and perhaps having some afternoon tea. At the new restaurant, diners can enjoy English culinary classics ranging from Victoria sponge to scones to locally-made ice cream, along with the unique setting. The room is thought to have been first built in the 1350s and 1360s and used for storing barrels of wine and beer. As the palace no longer stores their alcohol in large barrels, using the space for a medieval café is perhaps the next best thing.
The café's creation comes as part of an initiative to draw more visitors to Windsor Castle. This series of projects, entitled Future Programme, hopes to enhance visitors' experiences at the Castle, and make more spaces available to tourists, including the newly reinstated Georgian Inner Hall. The palace is also set to open a Learning Centre to aid children and families in their visits.
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