It was William the Conqueror who first built the landmark in the 11th century, and the fortress stood strong in the face of myriad challenges, b<\/span>ut it was that particular test which proved to be the greatest threat to its future, as we see in The Crown season 5<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The damage was extensive but miraculously, the castle, like Elton John, is still standing.<\/p>\n Read on for everything you need to know about how it started, how much the repairs cost, and who paid.<\/p>\n On 20th November, 1992, a faulty spotlight set fire to a curtain next to the altar in Queen Victoria\u2019s Private Chapel.<\/p>\n The alarm was raised at 11:30am and three hours later, 225 firefighters were said to be battling the blaze, manning between 36 and 39 pumps at the height of the fire, with 1.5million gallons of water required to extinguish the flames.<\/p>\n Windsor Castle also had its own fire department at the time, which saw people arrive on the scene mere minutes after being alerted.<\/p>\n Some say the fire burned for 12 hours, others 15. It was finally extinguished at 2:30am on 21st November.<\/p>\n There weren\u2019t any royals in residence at the time but Prince Andrew was carrying out some college research when the fire started. He contacted the Queen and she reportedly arrived at 3pm, remaining on site for one hour.<\/span><\/p>\n Speaking to press at the scene, Prince Andrew shared his reaction: \u201cHorror. Shock and horror, and the fact that it took hold so quickly. I happened to be around the castle when it started and I heard the fire alarm and some two or three minutes later, when I came out of the room that I was actually in, you could see the smoke. Not as extensive as it is now, but you could definitely see it.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cWe thought when we first responded to this that it was a small fire that could possibly be put out quite quickly. It became evident very soon after that that it was not a small fire. This is a great deal bigger than anybody expected.\u201d<\/p>\n As for his mother\u2019s reaction, all he had to say was: \u201cHer Majesty was shocked.\u201d<\/p>\n 115 rooms were damaged (around one fifth of the castle)<\/span>, including nine state rooms and both St George\u2019s Hall and Brunswick Tower.<\/span><\/p>\n Amazingly, only two works of art were destroyed: a painting by Sir William Beechley and a rosewood sideboard.<\/p>\n The areas of the building where the fire caused the most damage had already been emptied due to rewiring work.<\/p>\n The Duke of Edinburgh headed up the restoration committee. The castle was partly returned to its former state, with some changes introduced, including The Lantern Lobby, which is where the fire started.<\/p>\n The repairs were completed on 20th November, 1997, five years after the fire, which was also the Queen and Duke\u2019s 50th wedding anniversary.<\/p>\n The restoration cost around \u00a336.5 million, which equates to more than double that today.<\/span><\/p>\n It was initially expected to cost \u00a360 million back in 1997.<\/span><\/p>\n Prime Minister John Major proposed that Parliament cover the cost, but there was significant resistance to that from other MPs, sections of the media and the public, with many believing that the Royal Family should foot the bill.<\/p>\n In the end, it was a combination of the two.<\/p>\n The public were permitted to visit parts of Buckingham Palace for an \u00a38 entry fee \u2013 the first time the masses had stepped through its doors. The money raised funded 70 per cent of the repairs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Queen also contributed \u00a32 million of her own money, and she committed to paying income tax from 1993 onwards.<\/p>\n Private donations were also accrued via an independent trust.<\/p> You can watch seasons 1-5 of The Crown right now on Netflix<\/a>.\u00a0Sign up for Netflix from \u00a36.99 a month<\/a>. Netflix is also available on\u00a0Sky Glass<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Virgin Media Stream<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Looking for something else to watch? Check out our guide to the\u00a0best series on Netflix<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0best movies on Netflix<\/a>, or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a> or Streaming<\/span>\u00a0Guide<\/span><\/b><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. or more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Abby Robinson Published: Thursday, 10 November 2022 at 12:00 am There were a number of seismic events that prompted the Queen to deliver her memorable \u2018Annus Horribilis\u2018 speech in 1992, one of which was the devastating fire that broke out at Windsor Castle, where the Queen spent much of her childhood and teenage years. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":25525,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/windsor-castle-fire-how-did-it-start-and-how-much-did-the-repairs-cost-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/windsor-castle-fire-how-did-it-start-and-how-much-did-the-repairs-cost-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/windsor-castle-fire-how-did-it-start-and-how-much-did-the-repairs-cost-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/windsor-castle-fire-how-did-it-start-and-how-much-did-the-repairs-cost-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/windsor-castle-fire-how-did-it-start-and-how-much-did-the-repairs-cost-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/windsor-castle-fire-how-did-it-start-and-how-much-did-the-repairs-cost-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/windsor-castle-fire-how-did-it-start-and-how-much-did-the-repairs-cost-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Abby Robinson Published: Thursday, 10 November 2022 at 12:00 am There were a number of seismic events that prompted the Queen to deliver her memorable \u2018Annus Horribilis\u2018 speech in 1992, one of which was the devastating fire that broke out at Windsor Castle, where the Queen spent much of her childhood and teenage years.…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/25524"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How did the Windsor castle fire start?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>How much damage did the Windsor Castle fire cause?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
How long did the repairs take?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
How much did the Windsor Castle repairs cost and who paid for them?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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