Waterloo Chamber, Windsor Castle

The Waterloo Chamber has long been the home of Windsor Festival’s most prestigious events. The Festival is uniquely privileged to be the only organisation permitted to arrange public concerts in the State Apartments of Windsor Castle.

George IV commissioned the Waterloo Chamber in the 1820s as part of architect Sir Jeffry Wyatville's extensive renovation of Windsor Castle. It was created to commemorate the Duke of Wellington's 1815 victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. The chamber houses a series of portraits by Sir Thomas Lawrence, depicting the allied sovereigns, military commanders, and statesmen closely associated with Napoleon’s defeat. The project resulted in a series of rooms well-suited to the elaborate rituals of State Visits.

The Waterloo Chamber, with panelled walls adorned with Gibbons carvings and a ceiling designed to resemble the hull of a Royal Navy ship, provides ideal acoustics for orchestral music of a particular scale, notably the works of Beethoven, Dvořák, and Mozart.

In the past, the Festival has also staged concerts in nearby St George’s Hall and the Grand Reception Room.

Interesting facts:

- The carpet is the largest single-piece handmade carpet in the world and was presented to Queen Victoria. Today, it is covered by a replica to protect the original.

- Originally built as a courtyard known as Horn Court, the Chamber has very thick walls that provided a natural firebreak during the disastrous 1992 fire.