Now that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved into Frogmore Cottage and kindly ‘put Windsor on the map’ 🙂 , let’s have a look at the name ‘Windsor’. How many things do you associate with when you hear this word?

As for me, I think of two things instantly and these are:

1) Windsor, the town in the Royal County of Berkshire

2) the title of the House of Windsor.

But what else is called Windsor?

For instance a chair.

The chair on the picture is called Windsor chair, but not because they were made in Windsor, but because they were shipped to London from the market town of Windsor in 1724. However, because Windsor chairs were made in many regions which resulted in regional designs, its name refers to its style, rather than where it was made.

Important to mention that Windsor lies in the Thames Valley surrounded by the Chilterns which was rich in beech trees. Furniture making started here in the 1700s and the town of High Wycombe became the centre of chair making in the 19^th century. The towns best selling product was the Windsor chair. To put the growing business into perspective, at the beginning of the 1800s there was only a few workshops in town, by 1860 there were 150 producing 4700 chairs daily to fulfil the demands of the rapidly growing population.

How come that some of us associate the Windsor chair with American Western films?

In the 1720s English settlers introduced the Windsor chair to North America and the first American Windsor chair was made in Philadelphia in 1730. Mind you, there are differences between the American and the English Windsor chairs.

1) English Windsors typically have elm seats which are not saddled as deeply as the Americans. For the reason that the elm is quite hard to carve. In America a different type of wood is used which is easier to work with.

2) American Windsor chairs usually have stretchers connecting the front and back legs and a cross stretcher connecting the two side ones creating an ‘H’ stretcher assembly. The traditional English Windsor chair does not have stretchers as the wedged tenon joint is strong enough to prevent the legs from creeping outward.

3) Early English Windsor chairs were painted, later versions were stained and polished.

Windsor knot

The Windsor knot, or Full Windsor or Double Windsor is a method of tying a necktie. The Windsor knot produces a wide symmetrical triangular knot which was named after the Duke of Windsor, later King Edward VIII, however the knot itself was probably invented by his father, King George V.

The Windsor knot is suitable for big events and is recommended for cutaway, Italian or Windsor collar. The size of the knot is 4cm which is quite big and could detract attention from the person’s face. For this reason the Windsor knot is suitable for a square or round face or for those who wear beard or moustache. The knot must be positioned in the middle between the two parts of the collar and must hide the top button of the shirt.

The Windsor knot is only used by the Royal Air Force officially. Interesting facts: In the novel From Russia with Love James Bond meets a supposed British agent, who wears ‘the dark blue and red zigzagged tie of the Royal Artillery, tied with a Windsor knot’. Bond mistrusted anyone with a Windsor knot as it showed too much vanity, but he decided to forget his prejudice.

Font

Indeed, there is a font type called Windsor created by Eleisha Pechey. This font type is primarily used as display and in headings rather than for body text.

Capitals M and W are widely splayed, P and R have very large upper bowls. The lowercase a, h, m and n of the Windsor font have angled right hand stems, e has an angled cross-stroke.

Cheese

I must admit the Windsor cheese looks a bit bizarre at first glance, it reminds me of some sort of salami… What it is basically is red wine (Bordeaux, port or brandy) given to Cheddar cheese. The wine then establishes a marble effect in the cheese.

And of course there are…

…places, surnames, battleship, automobile, bomber, submarine and an engine named Windsor. Finally there are famous actors to English Stage and TV Frank Windsor and Windsor Davies showing that it can also be a Family Name and  Given name (forename).

~

I read an article the other day about what would happen if the Queen passed away. I must admit, I was a bit upset by this article not because it was about the Queen, it would have equally upset me about anyone, because everybody deserves dignity when it comes to death. I found it a bit morbid and absurd to read about the detailed schedule of the ceremony, but then again, this is part of the protocol and it only showed the unvarnished truth. I was aware of TV channels having hours of programs prepared about well-known and old actors and persons (the likes of David Attenborough or Kirk Douglas who is 101 years old) which is understandable.

Getting back to the article, I was shocked by the detailed program of the Queen’s death and that even TV presenters have their attire ready for the day, moreover they have practised the announcement several times. If I were the Queen, it would hurt me, at the same time, it is possibly nothing special to her, because she grew up with the protocol and as Bill says, she is aware this is part of the deal.

How, when and why did I invest in the Queen?

It happened this spring, somewhere in April, I think. How? I bought this waving Queen figurine for 20 pounds, which is quite a lot of money for what it is! At the same time, I knew I wanted it, because Elizabeth II is one of, if not the greatest iconic figure of the UK. One either loves her, or not, but I don’t think she is indifferent to anyone. As for me, I like her, but I am not a fan who follows every steps of hers. I appreciate she has done a lot for this country that she loves in her deepest heart and I learnt to respect her for being able to learn from the mistakes made by the Royal Family and change things around. I like the fact she sticks to traditions, but at the same time she is flexible enough to loosen some expectations. I like her, because she has never really wanted to be in the spotlight, she did not show off or have a flamboyant lifestyle and she did not share too much about herself either, which leaves her being a bit of a mystery for many of us. Undoubtedly, she is a status symbol of the UK, especially since the 2012 London Olympics when – as we all know – “she” jumped out of James Bond’s helicopter with a Union Jack parachute. Just one example that shows the Queen does have a sense of humour.

I don’t think there is anyone on this globe (OK, this might be an overstatement) who would not recognise her, her silhouette, her attire, the hats and the coats and handbags or headscarf she wears. The whole world will be shocked when she passes away and everybody will feel, they have lost a friend and one of the world’s best known characters. This has become clearer to me when we visited Her Majesty’s estate, Balmoral in Scotland this summer, where Bill and a shop assistant started to talk about the Queen. They said, they cannot even imagine how it would feel like not having the Queen around, because she “has always been there“. They grew up with the Queen being on the throne and indeed, the generation of the 1950s has always lived with their Queen.

Do the English like the Queen?

Yes and no. There are royalists who do like the Queen and the Royal Family (Bill for example) and there are the republicans who don’t – just like Mr Stokes and Mable in “You rang, M’lord?” when the ex king of Dalmatia was visiting Lord Meldrum:

STOKES Well, I don’t know why they’re making all this fuss about an old king and queen kicked out of country. If you ask me, I’ll kick them all out, ours included.
MABEL Well, you are quite right, Mr Stokes. Do away with them all!

What I definitely find to envy is the traditions around the English Royal Family. I often think, our nation (Hungary) cannot understand what it feels and means like having a monarch, because we lost our last king of the Árpád dinasty in 1301. With that, not only the last Hungarian king, but the traditions were lost, too. (Of course you can say, we had King Matthias later and Princess Sissi etc, but I think that is different.)

Why did I think I needed a waving Queen?

No idea! I just suddenly felt I needed one, but definitely not because I thought it would make me English – I will never be English. Also, there is a house in Windsor (no not the castle 🙂 ) which I find extremely pretty and has become my favourite house in town. This is where I saw a waving Queen for the first time and this also inspired me. Of course later you bump into these figurines at every corner in Windsor’s souvenir shops. At the same time, I also thought I should buy the figurine now, because the price may go up when the Queen dies. (It might be a disrespectful idea, but this is what I thought… 🙁 ) I find it interesting that Bill thought the new items with Charles on them would be more expensive and desired. Well, maybe both scenario will happen… All in all, I like having the Queen in our window waving all day. This may sound stupid but it is soothing and it feels as if we had a patron saint at home.

After all let’s hope the Queen stays with us for a long time for which she has a good chance as the Queen Mother was 101 when she passed away. I hope, we can admire her and her colourful and vibrant attires and hats that make her so unique in the years to come.

~

As a final cord, when I bought the figurine, I carried it enthusiastically. I remember, I said to Bill he must have thought I was an idiot because I bought a waving Queen for our home. His answer which I will never forget was:

“No, not at all. But then again, you are a tourist.”
🙂