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Windsor Castle crowning a chalk bluff above the Thames began as a motte-and-bailey under William the Conqueror c. 1070. Henry II rebuilt the stone Round Tower; Edward III founded the Order of the Garter and remodelled the Upper Ward; the late-medieval St George’s Chapel became England’s finest Perpendicular royal chapel. George IV and later Victorian restorations fused medieval silhouette with State Apartments still used by the British monarchy.
The 1992 fire destroyed several State Apartments, prompting a major reconstruction completed by 1997. The castle remains an official residence and a working ceremonial stage for Garter Day and royal weddings. Pair with the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey for the Norman-to-Gothic arc of English state power.