Standing at the very heart of the British national identity, Windsor is the oldest and largest castle in Britain and, with 1,000 rooms, the largest occupied castle in the world. The present queen, Elisabeth II, spent much of her childhood here, so it is not surprising that her public felt her pain when a devastating fire 1PART destroyed 100 rooms in the state and private apartments in 1992, her annus horribilis. A magnificent $53 million 2RESTORE completed in 1997 employed a beehive of 3ART using the same techniques as when the castle was begun under William the Conqueror, 900 years ago. It has been lived in by eight 4SUCCESS royal houses since then. In 1916, King George V assumed the name of the place out of fondness – and to 5ASSOCIATE the royal family from its Germanic origins. Highlights of a trip to Windsor Castle include the Changing of the Guards, which takes place even when the queen is not in 6RESIDE; the Queen Mary’s Doll House, an exquisite gift in miniature designed in 1923 by architect Sir Edwin Lutyens; and the 16th-century 7ARCHITECTURE jewel of St. George’s Chapel which, together with Westminster Abbey, shares the 8DISTINCT of being a pantheon of many English monarchs.