Few interiors in Windsor Castle can match the richness of the Albert Memorial Chapel. Every surface within it is rich with colour and the whole interior is brightly lit by great stained glass windows. This extraordinary chapel is the cumulative creation of nearly eight hundred years of architectural development.

In origin this building is the chapel dedicated to St Edward built beside the royal lodgings in the lower ward by Henry III between 1240 and 1249. Of this thirteenth century building only two things remain: the plan and one doorway with its original doors. This doorway originally served as the entrance to the main chapel lobby (or Galilee) and it has been absorbed wholesale within Edward IV's new building begun in 1475. The doors within it are a spectacular survival and date between 1247-9. They are painted red, possibly a recreation of the original background colour, and their rich metalwork is stamped with the name of Gilebertus. This is probably the name of their maker, possibly the Canterbury moneyer Gilbert de Bonnington.

Edward III reworked Henry III's chapel after 1348 in the most lavish fashion as the home for the newly created college and Order of the Garter. His redevelopment culminated with the installation of a vast new alabaster altar piece constructed by Master Peter and dragged to Windsor from Nottingham in ten carts each drawn by eight horses.

From 1475 Edward IV began work to the present chapel of St George and the old building then became a Lady Chapel to the east of this new structure. But the Lady Chapel was then rebuilt after 1493 as a burial place for Henry VII. He appears to have torn down most of the old chapel and raised a new one on its foundations. Before it was complete, however, Henry VII determined to be buried at Westminster rather than Windsor and the building was abandoned. At that time the chapel walls and roof were finished but the interior was still awaiting the erection of a rich stone vault.

Various attempts were made to complete the vault but they came to nothing and during the reign of Charles II, Christopher Wren drew up plans to replace the building with a memorial chapel in the Classical style for Charles I. The building survived, however, and in 1810 George III created a royal funeral vault beneath it. He also had plans to turn the chapel into the Garter chapter house, but again the plan was abandoned.

The present interior of the building is the product of a massively ambitious remodelling undertaken by Queen Victoria between 1863-73, following the death of Prince Albert. Numerous celebrated figures were involved in the work including the architect Sir George Gilbert Scott and the glazing company Clayton and Bell. There is a white marble cenotaph to Prince Albert in the centre of the chapel but the interior is really dominated by the monument of Albert Victor Christian Edward, Duke of Clarence. This is Art Nouveau in style and was executed before 1898 by Alfred Gilbert.