Hanging with royals: The alluring 'small town' of Windsor

As President Michael D Higgins prepares for his first state visit to Britain, Conor Power takes a look at Windsor Castle, the preferred home of Queen Elizabeth, and finds there’s a lot more to see in the town.

JUST what is it like for a foreign dignitary on an official state visit to Britain? Well, our President is just about the least-foreign foreign head of state that could possibly visit the United Kingdom, but he is going to be the first Irishman to experience the exquisite pampering, feeding and general fussing that someone is subject to when he or she is the guest of Queen Elizabeth II and company.

For a state visit, the visiting president or monarch has the choice of either Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle. A lot of people think that Buckingham Palace is where the British Royal Family generally hang out and that Windsor Castle is mostly for the tourists.