Thirty years ago Windsor Castle caught fire

Thirty years ago, in late November 1992, Queen Elizabeth was due to stay at Windsor Castle, as she did most weekends. A royal residence since the time of William the Conqueror, it has 1,000 rooms.

The year 1992 — which the Queen later dubbed her ‘annus horribilis’ — had already seen her children Princess Anne and Prince Andrew split from their spouses and the publication of Andrew Morton’s explosive biography detailing Princess Diana’s ‘loveless marriage’. But things were about to get even worse . . .

10am, Friday November 20, 1992

Three picture restorers walk into the 13th-century Private Chapel on the first floor of Windsor Castle and turn on all the lights. The chapel is at the heart of the north-east wing and is being used as a temporary storage area for valuable paintings (including ones by Rembrandt, Rubens, Holbein and Leonardo da Vinci) while renovation and rewiring work is taking place.

An easel holding a large painting is leaning against one of the 30ft‑high curtains that hang either side of the altar, pushing it against a spotlight.

Prince Philip is on a trip to Argentina, and the Queen is in Buckingham Palace. It is the couple’s 45th wedding anniversary.

Thirty years ago, in late November 1992, Queen Elizabeth was due to stay at Windsor Castle, as she did most weekends. A royal residence since the time of William the Conqueror, it has 1,000 rooms

The year 1992 — which the Queen later dubbed her ‘annus horribilis’ — had already seen her children Princess Anne and Prince Andrew split from their spouses and the publication of Andrew Morton’s explosive biography detailing Princess Diana’s ‘loveless marriage’. But things were about to get even worse . . .

11.15am

The restorers are studying a painting when one of them detects the faint smell of burning. There is no evidence of a fire, but there does seem to be a lot of dust in the air. But it’s not dust — it’s smoke.

11.25am

Flames suddenly appear at the top of the altar curtain. The restorers run for help and a team of contractors working next door in the banqueting hall of St George’s grab fire extinguishers and attempt to douse the flames. Hot embers begin to fall around them.

Dean Lansdale, 21, is working in the State Dining Room nearby when he hears a shout: ‘Fire!’ He runs into the chapel.

‘The curtains were on fire and the walls were alight — it was all going up. We did fight it, but there was little we could do,’ he later recalled. ‘We started dragging out paintings into the gallery. I think I managed to get three or four out, but as I went back in for another one, I grabbed the frame and it was red-hot. It burned my hands.’

11.28am

The altar curtains both fall to the floor in a shower of sparks. The carpet immediately catches fire, swiftly followed by combustible packing material used to protect the paintings. Soon the heat is so intense that everyone in the chapel is forced to flee.

11.30am

Windsor has its own Castle Fire Station and the officer on duty sets off the siren to alert the part-time firefighters among the castle’s staff. He also radios the castle fire engine which is two miles away.

11.32am

The fire has now reached the ceiling of the Private Chapel. Oblivious to the drama, tourists are still milling about in the courtyard below, listening to a military band. The Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service Control Room receives a call from the castle’s fire officer to initiate a much rehearsed plan: ‘Windsor Castle here. We have got a fire in the Private Chapel. Come to the Quadrangle as arranged.’

11.41am

The castle’s fire engine pulls up outside the north-east wing and the crew put on breathing apparatus. As they open the chapel door, large pieces of debris are now falling from the ceiling.

They are soon joined by five fire crews from the Royal Berkshire Fire Brigade. Mick Koza, the officer in charge, immediately radios a ‘make pumps ten’ message, requesting ten more fire engines.

11.45am

The chapel is now totally consumed by fire. Prince Andrew, who is staying at the castle, phones the Queen to say that her much-loved home is ablaze.

Flames reach the double-sided 19th-century organ which fills a gap in the wall between the Chapel and St George’s Hall. Its wooden panelling is soon alight and fire spreads into the hall.

Meanwhile, high above, the fire is burning along a 180ft void above the timber roof of St George’s Hall which runs the full length of the building. The fire is travelling fast and unchecked both horizontally and vertically through the castle.

Prince Philip is on a trip to Argentina, and the Queen is in Buckingham Palace. It is the couple’s 45th wedding anniversary

Midday

The county fire crews are having difficulty locating fire hydrants at the castle because they are covered with gravel (they were considered too unsightly to be on show). The Castle Fire Brigade know where the hydrants are but they are inside the building, fighting the fire. The police have set up roadblocks to all but emergency vehicles in the streets around the castle.

12.04pm

A decision is made to create fire breaks in the Clock Tower and the Chester Tower to stop the rapid spread of flames; sections of the lead roof are removed to allow the fire to vent upwards. Crews from London, Oxfordshire, Surrey and Buckinghamshire are summoned to Windsor. Smoke is now billowing hundreds of feet into the air.

12.30pm

In the rooms near St George’s Hall, Prince Andrew is using a portable radio to direct workmen and members of the castle staff as they rescue paintings, china, books and furniture.

Soon, more than 370 people are involved in the salvage operation, including members of the Household Cavalry and the Gurkha regiment.

Rembrandts, Holbeins and Canalettos, which form the heart of the world’s greatest private collection of paintings, are passed along a human chain. Large chests and tables are left to burn.

1pm

The fire is the lead story on the BBC and ITN News bulletins and, as a result, hundreds of people drive to Windsor to watch the drama unfold.

Flames are spreading fast because many of the rooms and corridors of the ancient building are lined with tapestries and drapes — none of which have been fire-proofed.

1.20pm

The large dome above the Private Chapel collapses and the fire explodes dramatically upwards. The roof of the State Apartments also starts to collapse. There are now 25 fire engines at the scene.

Major Jim Eastwood, the castle’s Superintendent, phones all the removal firms in the area to send their vans to the castle, so that the castle’s salvaged treasures can be safely taken away. There is soon a queue of vehicles waiting to get into the castle grounds.

Desperate efforts were made to rescue priceless artworks as the flames devoured the ancient structure

1.30pm

BBC Royal Correspondent Jennie Bond has driven straight to Windsor from a meeting at Buckingham Palace. As she runs towards the castle, she realises her red suede ankle boots with 3in stiletto heels may not be the best footwear for this assignment.

Jennie finds her film crew and joins the scrum of reporters talking to Dickie Arbiter, the Queen’s press officer. He is asked about her reaction to the fire and replies: ‘Probably the same reaction as yours if you saw your home burning down. Very upset.’

1.45pm

There is a fear that the Waterloo Chamber, which is used for investitures and is full of priceless paintings, will be next to catch fire.

Paintings conservator Viola Pemberton-Pigott recalled: ‘You could hear the flames in St George’s Hall and yet here was the Waterloo Chamber completely impervious to all the pandemonium that was going on around it, like being in the eye of a storm.’

To remove one painting would normally take two days, but it takes just 20 minutes to clear the lot. The paintings high up above a balcony are hastily taken out of their frames and dropped over the balcony to people below waiting to catch them.

The Waterloo Chamber holds a special affection for the Queen’s children; in Prince Charles’s words, they used to ‘muck around in there’ playing badminton on a court that’s marked out underneath a 120ft carpet.

2pm

The entire north-east wing of the castle is now on fire from the first floor up, including the kitchens and the octagonal Brunswick Tower, the State Dining Room, the Crimson Drawing Room and part of the Green Drawing Room.

Firefighters on two tall hydraulic platforms are sending jets of water into the 50ft flames, while at ground level hoses are targeting windows blown out by the heat.

In the courtyard, maroon curtains rescued from the State Apartments have been laid out and on them are candlestick holders, a bronze bust of the Queen and one of Sir Walter Raleigh — with a hard hat placed on his head.

Precious artefacts are taken into the removal vans, Army trucks and even a horse box. A policeman accompanies each vehicle as it is moved from one part of the castle to another.

2.30pm

There are now 39 fire engines and 225 firefighters from seven counties at the castle. It is rare to have so many vehicles in attendance — there has been only one fire in the whole of Greater London since 1973 with more than 30 in attendance.

Thirty-six pumps are being used to discharge 1.5 million gallons of water, which is being piped from hydrants, the nearby River Thames, a pond on the East Terrace and the castle’s 100,000-litre swimming pool.

The vast carpet from the Waterloo Chamber has been rolled up and about 50 people are trying to carry it out on their shoulders. But those at the front set off before everyone is ready and the people at the rear are dragged along the floor. Forty soldiers from the Household Cavalry are brought in to take over, marching the carpet to the castle stables.

39 fire engines from across the south east battled the blaze to save as much as possible

2.45pm

Floors and roofs are now constantly collapsing and fire crews are having to be hastily evacuated. One firefighter said later: ‘We had to throw the rule book away. We had been asked, for example, to avoid spraying water on one level because of possible damage to a beautiful ceiling underneath. We ended up having to make a hole in that very ceiling.’

The ambulance service has set up a medical aid point and are soon treating a fireman with a broken leg, a member of the castle staff with a suspected heart attack and firefighters suffering from hypothermia after being soaked with water.

3pm

TV crews film as the Queen arrives by car from Buckingham Palace wearing a green coat and Wellingtons. She is greeted by Prince Andrew. As she looks at the devastation, the Queen puts her hand over her mouth in shock.

Fire officer Mick Koza notices a Gurkha sentry still faithfully at his post: ‘He was standing there on duty, with the castle burning around him. He wasn’t going to move for anybody.’

3.30pm

Prince Charles is on his way from Sandringham where he has been hosting his annual shooting party.

As he approaches Windsor, he can see the smoke and a glow in the sky. He said later: ‘That was one of the worst images of all. It made the blood run cold.’

Prince Charles had wanted Princess Diana to join him with William and Harry this weekend. But Diana, who dislikes shooting and Sandringham, told her husband that she intended to take the boys to Windsor to stay with the Queen.

In a series of phone calls and letters Charles tried to change Diana’s mind, arguing that if her refusal to join him became public, it would lead to more gossip about the state of their marriage. But Diana would not budge and has instead taken William and Harry to Highgrove, their Gloucestershire home.

This battle over the shooting party is the last straw for Charles. He has decided that he will ask Diana for a legal separation. In five days’ time they will meet in Kensington Palace and agree to part.

How the Daily Mail covered the disaster

4pm

The fire breaks made at the Clock Tower and in the Green Drawing Room have worked. Fire officers are confident they have the inferno contained.

Jennie Bond has been tottering up and down the hill to the BBC’s truck all afternoon in her stiletto heels. She arrives back at the Quadrangle in the nick of time to catch Prince Andrew briefing the Press: ‘Her Majesty is absolutely devastated. She is inside the building, helping to take stuff out, works of art and other things, as a precaution. She’s been taking pictures off the wall for 30 minutes.’

Andrew says that it is fortunate the fire broke out during the day: ‘Had this happened at night, in the place that it happened, I think that we would have lost a lot more.’

Once the castle’s treasures are safely removed, the Queen and the staff can only watch as the building burns.

Aerial images of the fire showed the danger posed to the entire castle 

5.30pm

Flames more than 50ft high are shooting into the darkening sky from the battlements of the Brunswick Tower. It is the highest point of the castle and so contains the communication aerials for the emergency services. Radio contact is lost and the fire officers become concerned that some of their men may be trapped inside. A roll call is quickly taken and, thankfully, all the firefighters are safe for the moment.

7pm

The castle courtyard is illuminated by floodlights and fire. Flames can be seen by motorists on the M4 three miles away.

The investigation into the cause of the fire has already begun and will last eight days. Rubble and ashes will be painstakingly sifted through, and more than 110 questionnaires will be distributed to firefighters and castle staff to get a detailed account of the day.

8.25pm

A ‘fire surrounded’ message goes out to crews. A lone fireman on a 110ft ladder is still hosing water into the castle. Five firefighters have been taken to hospital with injuries and smoke inhalation.

Midnight

Steam and smoke rise from the castle. The fire is almost completely extinguished, but 60 firefighters remain on duty with eight fire engines in case of flare-ups. One fifth of the castle is destroyed and, in all, 105 rooms have been damaged, including nine major State Rooms.

Thanks to the swift work of the restorers, soldiers, volunteers and castle staff, only two works of art have been lost to the fire — a rosewood sideboard and a very large painting that could not be taken down from the wall in time.

Firefighters battled the blaze until they got it back under full contol

Aftermath

Soon, the question of who should fund the restoration became a heated debate, after the government’s National Heritage Secretary Peter Brooke said the taxpayer would pay.

The Daily Mail declared on the Monday after the fire: ‘These are hard times. Millions are without work. Why should taxpayers have to foot the massive repair bill when the Queen does not herself pay tax?’

On the Thursday, in a historic moment for the Royal Family, the Queen agreed to pay capital gains tax on her private investments and income tax on her Duchy of Lancaster money. Parts of Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace would be opened to the public and the income used to pay for the restoration.

The work to repair the castle completed below budget on November 20, 1997, at a cost of £36 million, five years to the day since the fire and on the 50th wedding anniversary of the Queen and Prince Philip

The work was completed below budget on November 20, 1997, at a cost of £36 million, five years to the day since the fire and on the 50th wedding anniversary of the Queen and Prince Philip.

The bravery displayed by first responders was commemorated by a new stained-glass window for the chapel which shows a workman in a hard hat carrying out a painting and a firefighter surrounded by smoke dousing the flames.

An emotional Queen thanked those involved in the restoration: ‘It was the best anniversary present we could have wished for. I can’t begin to describe what it means to us to have Windsor back.’ 

• Jonathan Mayo is the author of Titanic: Minute By Minute, published by Short Books.