Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Queen 'devastated' as castle burns Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 17:35:41 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD Queen 'devastated' as castle burns \BY Abigail Levene \CR REUTERS NEWS AGENCY \DT WINDSOR, England WINDSOR, England - Centuries of British heritage were consumed in hours yesterday when fire engulfed Windsor Castle, Queen Elizabeth's favorite home and a treasure house for the world's biggest private art collection. The queen was said by her second son, Prince Andrew, to be "absolutely devastated" by the blaze, which swept through the northeast wing of the 1,000-room castle, the seat of England's sovereigns for 850 years. She was to have spent yesterday celebrating her 45th wedding anniversary but rushed from Buckingham Palace to Windsor, 30 miles west of London, to help a human chain of workers move irreplaceable art works and furnishings to safety. "It became clear very soon that it was not a small fire," said Andrew, the only member of the royal family who was in the castle area when the fire started and helped to rescue treasures too priceless to insure. "This is a great deal bigger than anybody expected." Orange tongues of flame still shot from the battlements 12 hours after the fire began in the royal family's private chapel just before noon. But fire chief David Harper said the blaze was under control. "We are quite satisfied there is no further chance of the fire spreading," he said. Some 200 firefighters were expected to work well into today tackling small pockets of fire. At least eight persons, five of them firefighters, suffered slight injuries. Damage was estimated at several million dollars. The cause of the fire was not immediately known, but police said arson was not suspected. Contractors have worked since 1988 on renovation of Windsor Castle, including rewiring of its electrical system. Most of the great art works in the building, including paintings by Rembrandt and Rubens and drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, appeared to have been saved by castle staff and soldiers who passed them from hand to hand into the courtyard. "The hope, and this is not a definitive assessment, is that there may only be a handful of works of art which have been lost," a Buckingham Palace spokesman said. But the extent of structural damage to one of the great architectural jewels in Britain's royal crown was evident in video film that showed flames tearing out the heart of the castle. "We've lost what seems to us part of our heritage," said one young woman among crowds of onlookers in Windsor. She was close to tears. Sections of the castle devastated by the blaze included the Brunswick and Chester towers and St. George's Hall, a magnificent 13th century state banqueting chamber used to entertain world leaders. Its vaulted wooden roof collapsed in the searing heat. "It was all going up," said Dean Landsdale, a 21-year-old decorator who suffered minor burns when he helped to drag a painting from the seat of the fire. "I walked over to the chapel, and it was an inferno. The curtains were on fire and walls were burning," he said. Set on a hill overlooking the river Thames, Windsor is the largest inhabited castle in the world and boasts a history stretching back to when William the Conqueror built a fortress on the site in 1070. It draws a million visitors a year and is the queen's weekend retreat. She and her sister, Princess Margaret, were sent there from London during World War II to shelter from the German Blitz. The blaze was the second in six years at a British royal palace. A fire in 1986 badly damaged apartments at Hampton Court, southwest of London, which have since been refurbished. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM