The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead

The British refuse to let go of their illustrious past. Once, we walked into a modest crockery shop at Sunning-hill near Windsor. A set of six cups and saucers was priced at £250. The proud proprietor in his late fifties said, “We have been making fine crockery since 1859 out of Sunning-hill and we have no other branch!” The cups were slightly uneven. The proprietor explained that they were hand crafted! “And I must warn you,” he added, “they are not fire resistant, so you can forget about putting them into a microwave or an oven.” “The material, by the way is rather brittle – one of those delicate pieces, to be handled with great care!” He paused and then half to us, half to himself announced, “But I think they are certainly worth their while.” The alleged fact that they had a legacy that dates back to 1859 was his only value proposition for selling the crockery at six times its usual price. And we are not talking about "brand equity" either. This wasn’t Harrods of London! It was a local shop perhaps not making more than a few dozens of those sets in a full year - albeit from the Royal Borough of Windsor!

Like the monarchy, just about everything in the royal borough has a legacy. The English are known to attach a lot of importance to dressing for the occasion. In the royal borough, there are elaborate norms around dress code including accessories that are followed meticulously depending on whether you are dining, golfing, relaxing, shopping or gardening. As the river passes through the borough, it becomes the “Royal Thames”! The racecourse is the “Royal Ascot” Racecourse. Hundreds of wealthy families in the borough have connections with the royal family and several hundreds covet ranks of chivalry or knighthood. The communities living in the royal borough, affluent or otherwise, often want to proclaim their distinction over others. Probably, this fascination, this overwhelming admiration of the royalty and tradition made the diamond jubilee celebrations of 2012, exciting!

For centuries, the British monarchy has not ceased to arouse curiosity amongst the people in the UK and to a lesser degree, around the world. It doesn’t seem to matter that constitutionally, the Queen does not interfere with the 10 Downing Street’s affairs or the fact that she is not amongst the five richest individuals in the United Kingdom. In this democratic and pro-capitalist nation, people still have a very special place in their hearts for the royal family and the prying media goes to extremes to catch a glimpse of the private lives of a member of the royal family.

The year 2012 was the 60^th anniversary of the Queen's reign over the UK and The British Commonwealth. The UK celebrated this Diamond Jubilee between 2^nd and 4^th June. The British government and the royalty were evidently using the occasion to create a greater feeling of community and promote a sense of pride and unity. There was serious money to be made by attracting tourists as well. They even had an official ‘Diamond Jubilee’ website at www.thediamondjubilee.org.

On Saturday 2^nd June, The Queen attended the Epsom Derby. Sunday was the Big Jubilee lunch where people were encouraged to share lunch with neighbours and friends as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. All the multitudinous heralds of festivity throughout the UK will announced the start of the ‘The Big Lunch’ by chiming church bells, gongs, cannons, whistles and drums. Garden parties and festivities were organised into village fetes, public parks, village halls, community centres, country houses, pub gardens, cricket pavilions or the club houses.

Sunday was also the day of the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant where a thousand boats assembled in a flotilla on the Thames. The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh traveled in the Royal Barge which formed the centrepiece of the flotilla. On Monday, there was a special service at the Westminster Abbey to commemorate the 60^th anniversary of the coronation ceremony followed by a grand rock and pop concert at the Buckingham Palace in the evening – an audio visual grand finale to the day’s celebrations.

The Queen usually spends her winters at the “Windsor Castle”, probably the most well known of her five official residences next only to Buckingham palace. The UK is divided into Counties and Boroughs. The Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead has come to be known as “The Royal Borough”. Consequentially, the County it is part of, is called the Royal County of Berkshire.

The Windsor Castle has been a royal palace and fortress for over 900 years. William the Conqueror chose the site, overlooking Thames, intending to guard London from the western approaches. Since then, successive sovereigns have improved upon the Castle. Some strengthened it against uprising; others, living in more peaceful times, created a palatial royal residence. The Castle provides a step back into history, and within its precincts stand some magnificent buildings like the Queen Mary's Dolls' House, The Gallery, The State Apartments, St George's Chapel and the Albert Memorial Chapel.

The State Apartments are used for the State and official occasions. The rooms are furnished with remarkable works of art in the Royal Collection, fine tapestries, porcelain, sculpture and armour. The Queen holds banquets and receptions at St. George’s Hall. Queen Mary's Dolls' House is a palace in miniature, built to a scale of 1:12 in the 1920s. Every detail of the dollhouse from the entry gates to the chandeliers in the King's bedroom is fully functional. The water system, the electric lighting, and elevators work, the gramophone plays and the wine bottles in the cellar contain genuine vintage wines.

Tourism is central to the royal borough’s economy. Ascot and Windsor High Streets are full of souvenir shops, travel agents, restaurants, pubs and shops that sell designer wear, fashionable accessories, jewellery, art and antiquities including memorabilia. Leisure industry is quite prominent throughout the borough. This includes several stud farms and manufacturers of leisure boats and fishing equipment for enthusiasts who spend their summer holidays on the river Thames. Real estate prices are incredibly high in the royal borough despite the fact that these towns are no more industrial than their neighbours outside the borough.

Ascot is renowned for its racecourse. Apparently, Queen Anne was out riding in 1711 and noticed a natural clearing near the village of East Cote (now Ascot), on the edge of Windsor Great Park and ordered a course to be laid out “for horses to gallop at full stretch” and so the Royal Racecourse was born. The first four-day Royal Meeting was held in June 1768 and the tradition has continued to the present day. Today Ascot stages top class flat racing in summer and jump racing during the winter. During the summer, Ascot comes to life as the jockeys trot their thoroughbred stallions, fillies and mares, while the high echelons mingle with spectacular fashions and style – in a relaxed social setting. Live music concerts and fashion shows are held throughout the racing season.

The British legacy of aristocracy is evident even today, as people often get access privileges and differential treatment depending on their “class”. It looks as though the men and women at Ascot are more conscious of their own lineage, than the pedigree of the horses they watch trotting on the paddocks. Ascot racecourse has three enclosures, each perfectly serving the purpose of segregating people. The Members' Enclosure has the prime viewing position and the most comprehensive facilities, open to members only. The Grandstand has reserved seating and private boxes during the Royal Ascot and Premier race days offering unique panoramic views over the racecourse. There are areas exclusively reserved for the royal family such as the Berry bar and Queen Elizabeth rooms. For the masses, access is limited to the Silver Ring for a lower admission fee.

While Windsor is full of pubs that are open late in the night, life elsewhere in the borough is quite relaxed. A journey by car along the winding single-lane roads from the town of Maidenhead to villages such as Cookham and Marlow unfolds fairy-tale images of the well-known British countryside. The sheep and cow farms, egg ranges, the strawberry and blueberry farms, cottages with thatched roofs and cylindrical bales of hay dotting the fields; take any photo-shoot through an amateur camera, and you can sell it as a post card! The Thames is very quiet and narrow in the borough. Whilst on their leisure boats on the river Thames, the locals are fond of basking in the Sun. (which incidentally is not a greater privilege even in the royal borough!)

Life in the villages is laid back, the surroundings disturbingly quiet. It’s a perfect getaway from the busy life in London yet close enough to commute to London offices. People here greatly value their balance of work and leisure. The concept of working over weekends is rare and unwelcome. Shops close at 5 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays and at 4 p.m. on Sundays. Except for the pubs, town centre high streets bear a deserted look at evenings. People in the neighbourhood are fond of reading and gardening over the weekends during summers and drinking. The pubs are hubs of all social activity and therefore also a common source of information on local news, sports, politics or gossip. Other than in the pubs though, people like to respect personal space and privacy.

 by Sachin Kulkarni Windsor, UK.