Views fit for a Queen at Kenilworth Castle - The Leamington Observer

Views fit for a Queen at Kenilworth Castle

Leamington Editorial 9th Sep, 2014 Updated: 28th Oct, 2016   0

VISITORS to Kenilworth Castle can now enjoy a view fit for a Queen.

Platforms have been installed on the section known as Leicester’s Building, created in the sixteenth-century by the castle’s then owner, Earl of Leicester Robert Dudley, in a bid to woo Queen Elizabeth I.

For the first time time in 350 years visitors can climb the tower and explore what is left of The Virgin Queen’s private rooms.

Jeremy Ashbee, English Heritage’s Head Curator, said: “Leicester’s Building was one of the most spectacular works of architecture in Elizabethan England, a soaring tower expressly built to win the queen’s hand in marriage.




“Now for the first time in centuries, visitors can get right up to the top of this remarkable building and get a real sense of the luxury and views she enjoyed.”

At the time of the Queen’s final visit in 1575, the building had been completed boasting enormous glass windows, a bedroom, a private staircase and a long gallery for entertaining guests.


But despite spending a fortune on the project, Dudley failed to win her hand in marriage.

During the English Civil War, Parliament ordered the deliberate destruction of the castle which has since stood as a shell without any means of reaching the top.

The new stairs and platforms take visitors 18 metres high, into the queen’s private chambers and face-to-face with Elizabethan fireplaces, doorways and other architectural features.

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