Christmas at Windsor

"On December 24 1850 Queen Victoria sat down at her bureau at Windsor Castle and wrote breathlessly in her journal: ‘My beloved Albert first took me to my tree and table, covered by such numberless gifts, really too much, too magnificent!’

Now visitors to the royal residence in leafy Berkshire will, for the first time, be able to sample Christmas just as Victoria and Prince Albert did 161 years ago.

Although monarchs have celebrated Christmas at Windsor since the 12th century, the couple were responsible for popularising the celebration in the form we know today.

The finishing touches are made to the table in Windsor Castle's state dining room, which has be laid for a Victorian Christmas feast

German-born Albert personally brought over the Christmas tree to Britain and the highlight of the castle’s new seasonal exhibition is a giant conifer - suspended from the ceiling of the Octagon Dining Room in place of its magnificent chandelier.

Just why the prince chose to display his trees from the ceiling is a mystery, but in 1860 a visitor to the castle described how the rooms ‘were lighted up with Christmas trees hung from the ceiling, the chandeliers being taken down. These trees…were covered with bonbons and little wax coloured lights, some of the trees were made to appear as if partially covered in snow.’

Anything Victoria and Albert did was certain to became the rage - and Christmas trees are still the centrepiece of most of our celebrations today.

Inspired by these contemporary descriptions, an artificial tree decorated with swags, ribbons, replica candles and imitation snow is now taking pride of place in the Windsor recreation.

In the German tradition, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve. Presents were laid out on tables, each of which had a Christmas tree at its centre. Staff have painstakingly recreated two such gift tables piled with presents that were actually exchanged by Victoria and Albert.

David Oakley, curator of the Christmas display for the Royal Collection, puts the finishing touches to a Christmas tree which is suspended from the ceiling

German-born Albert chose to suspend his trees from the ceiling (left) and this tradition has been recreated for the current exhibition (right)

Among them is a painting of a young nun and her suitor by Sir Charles Eastlake. It was commissioned by Victoria in 1844 as a gift for Albert and it is said that Eastlake had to paint for 19 hours without a break to finish it in time.

There are also sculptures of the numerous royal children, including a tender representation of Victoria and Albert’s youngest child, Princess Beatrice, as a baby lying in a shell. This was given to the Queen by Prince Albert for Christmas 1858.

Victoria was always a keen diary keeper and in 1850 described her brood’s excitement, saying: ‘The 7 children were then taken to their tree, jumping and shouting with joy over their toys and other presents: the boys could think of nothing but the sword we had given them and Bertie some of the armour, which however he complained, pinched him’.

In the Castle’s State Dining Room, the table has also been laid for a Victorian Christmas feast with a magnificent porcelain dessert service by Minton of Staffordshire. Known as the Victoria Service, the set was purchased by the Queen at the Great Exhibition in 1851 and includes four porcelain figures of the four seasons, ice pails, cream and bon-bon dishes, and a pair of silver-gilt sauceboats shaped like sleighs.

During Christmas 1860 a visitor to Windsor described the ‘mighty sight’ of 50 turkeys being roasted in the Great Kitchen, a huge baron of beef (a joint of beef consisting of the two sirloins joined at the backbone) and a woodcock pie of 100 birds presented to the Queen each Christmas by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland."

See more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2066193/Sauceboats-shaped-like-sleighs-giant-conifer-suspended-ceiling--Get-set-Victorian-Christmas-Windsor-castle.html