The Royal Sims House Windsor: A Landmark Collection
WESTSIMSTER ABBEY
Westsimster Abbey, formally titled The Collegiate Church of St. Augustine at Westsimster, is one of the most significant Gothic landmarks in Windenburg. Standing in the heart of Easton for nearly 900 years, the Abbey has been central to the sim nation’s religious, royal, and political life. It has hosted coronations, royal weddings, state funerals, and, until the 20th century, served as the principal burial site of the Windenburg Royal Family.
EARLY HISTORY
The origins of Westsimster Abbey long predate the rise of Easton as the capital of Windenburg.
The original structure began as a modest collegiate church and monastery established by a small order of monks who settled along the river marshlands of Southeast Windenburg at a time when the territory was still largely unclaimed frontier land.
For centuries the monks maintained the church as a quiet religious outpost. The surrounding lands remained sparsely populated and largely disconnected from the centers of power.
This changed dramatically following the Great War of 1784, which consolidated control of Southeast Windenburg and opened the region for rapid development.
Recognizing the strategic and symbolic importance of the site, King Albert I proposed transforming the aging monastic church into a grand national abbey that would reflect the expanding influence of the new Windenburg Crown.
However, the proposal faced immediate resistance.
King Lester IV, Albert’s father, refused to finance the project. Lester remained deeply committed to Brindleton Bay as the kingdom’s ceremonial capital, and he feared that elevating Westsimster would shift the center of royal power away from the historic royal seat.
The church remained unchanged.
THE GRANGER INTERVENTION
The transformation of Westsimster began not with royal funding, but with one of the kingdom’s wealthiest families.
In 1785, Harvey Granger, then Marquess of Westsimster, stepped forward to personally finance the refurbishment and expansion of the aging collegiate church.
Granger was already a powerful figure in the development of Southeast Windenburg. His financial backing helped transform large sections of marshland into what would become the foundations of the growing capital of Easton.
Under Granger’s patronage, the once modest religious structure was expanded into a far grander ecclesiastical building. Gothic vaulting, chapels, and new stonework gradually reshaped the church into the monumental structure that would eventually become Westsimster Abbey.
His patronage remains visible today in the Abbey’s North Rose Window, where the Granger arms appear in stained glass, along with a commemorative plaque near the main entrance acknowledging the family’s role in the Abbey’s transformation.
THE TURNING POINT: 1802
The events of 1802 marked the single greatest transformation in the history of both Windenburg and Brindleton Bay.
Following the deaths of King Lester IV, Queen Lucille, and much of the senior House of Windsor during the Beaverdam Flood, King Albert inherited the Brindleton Bay Crown after the brief reign and voluntary abdication of his elder brother, King James I.
The succession united the Windsor-controlled territories beneath a single sovereign, creating the modern Kingdom of Windenburg, while Brindleton Bay became a Commonwealth of the newly unified Realm.
The constitutional changes of 1802 were accompanied by an equally significant religious transformation.
Relations between King Albert and the Cathlosim Church had steadily deteriorated following his controversial marriage to Queen Isabella in 1791, a union opposed by both King Lester IV and the Papacy. With political authority now consolidated beneath a single Crown, Albert introduced legislation that became known as the Windenburg Reformation.
The Reformation severed Windenburg and Brindleton Bay from the authority of the Cathlosim Church and established the Church of Windenburg as the Kingdom's independent national church, with the Sovereign serving as its Supreme Governor.
Although Westsimster Abbey remained one of the nation's most important ceremonial churches—continuing to host coronations, royal weddings, state funerals, and national services—it no longer served as the principal seat of the established church.
That role passed to St. Aaron's Church in Easton, which became the mother church of the Church of Windenburg and the seat of the Archbishop of Calgary, Senior Primate of the Church of Windenburg.
The reforms did not eliminate the Cathlosim Church from the Kingdom. Instead, it continued as a separate religious tradition under the spiritual leadership of the Archbishop of Westsimster, preserving the Abbey's historic importance while establishing a new ecclesiastical identity for the Realm.
Together, the Union of 1802 and the Windenburg Reformation reshaped the constitutional, political, and religious foundations of the Kingdom. More than two centuries later, they remain among the defining events of Windenburg history.
THE WESTSIMSTER AFFAIR
Despite the Granger family’s critical role in financing and expanding Westsimster Abbey, their rise at court would ultimately end in scandal.
In 1786, King Albert I created the title Earl of Westsimster for Harvey Granger, elevating him from his previous rank of Marquess. The honor recognized both his financial support of the Crown and his patronage of Westsimster Abbey, which had transformed the once modest collegiate church into a grand monument.
For a brief period, the Grangers stood among the most powerful families in the kingdom.
Their influence extended beyond religion and architecture. Harvey Granger was also deeply involved in the early development of Greater Easton, financing large sections of what would later become the royal capital.
However, the family’s fortunes became entangled in one of the most notorious personal scandals of the early Windsor era.
Following the death of Queen Laura, King Albert I began a widely known affair with the Countess of Westsimster, the wife of Harvey Granger.
While such arrangements were not entirely uncommon among European courts of the era, the situation changed dramatically when Albert chose to remarry.
In 1797, the King married Isabella, a former lady-in-waiting who had served in Queen Laura’s household.
The Countess of Westsimster reacted poorly to the marriage.
Contemporary court diaries describe several public confrontations in which the Countess openly refused to acknowledge the new queen’s status. In one widely circulated account, she allegedly referred to Isabella as “a servant elevated above her station.”
Such behavior toward a reigning queen was considered an insult to the Crown itself.
Queen Isabella acted swiftly.
Using her influence over the King, she demanded punishment for the Countess’s conduct. In 1799, Albert I stripped Harvey Granger of his title Earl of Westsimster, revoking the family’s noble status entirely.
The decision shocked court society.
Granger had been one of the King’s closest allies and the principal financial patron of Westsimster Abbey itself. Yet despite the humiliation, the family retained their immense wealth and extensive landholdings.
The Grangers withdrew from court life soon afterward.
Although their noble title was lost, their legacy remained etched into the fabric of the Abbey. The North Rose Window, funded by Harvey Granger decades earlier, still displays the Granger coat of arms — a quiet reminder of the family whose patronage helped shape one of Windenburg’s most important landmarks.
ARCHITECTURE
The abbey is chiefly Geometric Gothic, built in Reigate stone with Purbeck marble accents, and is celebrated for its eleven-bay nave, transepts, and radiating chapels. Flying buttresses support the soaring structure, while the west front, completed later, adopts a Perpendicular Gothic style.
The Albert I Chapel, built in Huddlestone stone, reflects a late Perpendicular style with Baroque-influenced west towers, blending Gothic with the fashionable architecture of Albert’s reign.
The design drew heavily from French Gothic models, particularly Reims Cathedral: a long rounded apse, narrow soaring nave, and chapels radiating from the ambulatory distinguish it from traditional Windenburg Gothic churches.
The chapter house, an octagonal vaulted chamber, once stored state records before their move to Windsor in 1889.
The newest addition is the Easton Wing, opened in 2020. It houses lifts and stairs to George’s Silver Jubilee Galleries, a public exhibition space showcasing centuries of royal and national treasures.
Distinctively Windenburg features remain — notably the contrasting colored stones, elaborate tympanum carving above “Solomon’s Porch” on the north entrance, and extensive medieval cloisters.
The cloisters once housed monks’ teaching, studies, and dining, with the Little Cloister garden still in use after 900 years.
The newest addition is the Easton Wing, opened in 2020. It houses lifts and stairs to George’s Silver Jubilee Galleries, a public exhibition space showcasing centuries of royal and national treasures.
INTERIOR
Despite centuries of construction, the nave maintains a unified style, its height unmatched in Windenburg.
The crossing is lit by a lantern roof, and gilded stone screens mark the choir. Shields of medieval donors adorn the spandrels of the choir arcades.
ROYAL ROLE
Today, Westsimster Abbey remains one of the most important ceremonial churches of the House of Windsor.
Although the Church of Windenburg became the Kingdom's established church following the Windenburg Reformation of 1802, the Abbey continues to occupy a unique place in the nation's constitutional and religious life.
The Abbey traditionally hosts:
the coronation of every Windenburg sovereign;
royal weddings;
state funerals;
national services of remembrance and thanksgiving; and
other occasions of exceptional national significance.
It also serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Westsimster, the senior Cathlosim bishop in Windenburg and Brindleton Bay, preserving the Abbey's centuries-old connection to the Cathlosim Church while remaining one of the Kingdom's foremost ceremonial churches.
Since the Reformation, St. Aaron's Church in Easton has served as the mother church of the Church of Windenburg and the seat of the Archbishop of Calgary, while Westsimster Abbey has continued to symbolize the enduring relationship between the Crown, the nation's history, and both of Windenburg's historic Christsim traditions.
TODAY
Today, Westsimster Abbey stands not only as one of Windenburg's greatest architectural landmarks but also as one of the Kingdom's most enduring national symbols.
For more than two centuries, it has witnessed the defining moments of the House of Windsor—from the coronations of kings and queens to royal weddings, funerals, and services marking times of national celebration and mourning.
Although no longer the principal church of the established Church of Windenburg, the Abbey remains the ceremonial heart of the monarchy and the spiritual home of the Kingdom's Cathlosim community.
Together with St. Aaron's Church, the Abbey reflects the unique religious settlement established by King Albert I in 1802, preserving both Windenburg's ancient traditions and its reformed national identity.
Its towers continue to overlook the City of Westsimster as they have for centuries, serving as a lasting reminder that while kingdoms, governments, and churches may evolve, the Abbey remains one of the enduring symbols of the Crown and the nation it serves.
Royal Family Buried at Westsimster Abbey
Princes & Princesses
Catherine, Princess Royal – Bay 2L.
Prince Otis, Duke of Norfolk – Bay 3L.
Princess Birdie, Duchess of Norfolk – Bay 3L.
Prince George, Duke of Newsoms – Bay 2R.
Princess Nina, Duchess of Newsoms – Bay 2R.
Princess Grace of Newsoms – Bay 5R.
Princess Esther, Duchess of Hastings – Bay 7R.
Nobles & Notables
General Sir Leo Hardy Jr. – Bay 2L.
Burchette Gates Sr. – Bay 5R
By the late 19th century, the Abbey had become overcrowded, with royal tombs intermingled with aristocratic and military figures.
This fueled Edward I’s 1900 petition to establish St. Leo’s Chapel at Windsor Castle as the dedicated burial site for the Windsor dynasty, where the Royal Vault was completed in 1906.
