[3] Except for a brief period of privatisation by Oliver Cromwell to pay for the English Civil War, the area remained the personal property of the monarch until the reign of George III when control over all Crown lands was handed over to Parliament.

The Park is owned and administered by the Crown Estate, a public body established by Act of Parliament in which the monarch and family members associated with its particular parts have non-executive, advisory roles.

It has sweeping deer lawns, small woods, coverts and areas covered by huge solitary ancient oak trees.

[12] Windsor Castle was begun in the 11th century by William the Conqueror as it afforded a good defensive point over the River Thames.

The moat at Bear's Rails contained the manor house of Wychamere, the home of William of Wykeham while he was building the castle.

By the 18th century, the food value of the parkland to Windsor had decreased in importance and the new Hanoverian monarchs preferred to build on and garden the land rather than hunt in it.

The Long Walk had been laid out by King Charles II and the planting of its trees completed by William of Orange in the 1680s, with double rows of elms which lasted until World War II, but the Georges extended it and built numerous features and monuments, such as the Copper Horse (depicting George III) and the Obelisk (in honour of William, Duke of Cumberland).

Few details are recorded of the building of the lake; however it has been suggested that prisoners of war from the recent Jacobite risings, who were encamped at the nearby Breakheart hill, were involved.

[13] On 12 December 1894, Messrs Buckland & Sons were proud to announce: The Prince Consort's Flemish Farm A Xmas sale of fat stock belonging to HM the Queen

At One o'Clock precisely Carriages will meet the Trains at both Windsor Stations[14] The Smith's Lawn area of the Park began to be used for flying in the 1920s, an activity which continued in various forms until the early 1950s.

On 29 April 1931, Gordon Olley landed a large (for the time) twin-engine Imperial Airways airliner, the Armstrong Whitworth Argosy ("City of Glasgow"), at Smith's Lawn.

[16] During the war, aviation related activities included a factory dispersal site (to minimize the risk of Luftwaffe bombing) for Vickers-Armstrongs, who built and maintained Wellington bombers here.

Other wartime aviation activities included use as a Relief Landing Ground for de Havilland Tiger Moth trainers at nearby No.

A co-organiser Sid Rawle claimed that Windsor Great Park has been common land until the 18th century, and illegally inclosed (made private) by George III.

The tree-lined 2.64 miles (4.25 km) avenue known as the Long Walk was originally a path from Windsor Castle to Snow Hill.

The king was inspired to develop Windsor Castle and the surrounding parkland after he lived at the Palace of Versailles during his exile from Britain when it was the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell.

[20] In 1710 Queen Anne had the path through the centre of the trees replaced by a road so coaches could use the route to enter and leave Windsor Castle.

[20] The Long Walk runs south from Windsor Castle to The Copper Horse statue of King George III atop Snow Hill.

The cast statue, which was erected 1829, is 2.65 miles (4.26 km) from the George IV Gateway at Windsor Castle to The Copper Horse.

[21] Other equestrian statues in the park include one of Albert, Prince Consort, to the west of the polo grounds, and one of Queen Elizabeth II near the Village.

Each Ranger made his – or in one case, that of Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, her – own mark on the features of the house and its surroundings.

Her daughter Princess Helena of the United Kingdom lived at the Lodge for over fifty years, presiding over elaborate re-building after a major fire in 1869 and extensive alterations in 1912.

It was in his time, in 1936, that the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, discussed the crisis over King Edward VIII's desire to marry Wallis Simpson, talks which led to his abdication of the crown a few weeks later.

Among the lakeside features are the 30-metre-high (100 ft) high Canadian totem pole, carved by Mungo Martin, Henry Hunt, and Tony Hunt Sr., commemorating the centenary of British Columbia, and a collection of ornamental Roman ruins, transported from the site of Leptis Magna (modern-day Al-Khums) in 1816 and installed at Virginia Water in 1826.

This is inscribed This Obelisk raised by command of King George the Second commemorates the services of his son William Duke of Cumberland The success of his arms and the gratitude of his father

Windsor Great Park is regarded as an important bolete site by mycologists,[26] and a few nationally rare species occur here, including Imperator rhodopurpureus, Rubroboletus legaliae and Butyriboletus fuscoroseus, although the latter of which has not been encountered for many years.

Windsor Great Park is the only place in the UK where a confusing form of R.legaliae with entirely yellow pores occurs,[27] and is the type locality for Boletus immutatus, as suggested by Ainsworth et al. a variable colour morph of Neoboletus luridiformis with metabolic abnormalities, which occurs exclusively at Windsor Great Park and nowhere else in the UK, and has not been recorded in Europe as well.

[30] A new visitor centre designed by Glenn Howells Architects and Buro Happold was opened in June 2006, and was nominated for the 2007 Stirling Prize.

[32] At the 15th World Conference of WAGGGS it was decided to mark the centenary of the birth of Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Guiding, by holding a World Camp with four locations — Doe Lake, Ontario, Canada; Quezon City, Philippines; Lac de Conche, Switzerland; and Windsor Great Park, from 19 January to 2 February 1957.