Greetings! My parents and myself (ages: 32, 58, 61), are traveling to London and France in February-March. It's our third time in London, second time to Windsor Castle, but we missed seeing St. George's Chapel. We were on a Grayline tour that really rushed us through. I have us (tentatively) down to take the train to Windsor on March 2. We'll explore it all on our own, possibly seeing Eton, too. When checking Windsor's slow, hard-to-navigate website, I'm seeing that March 2-3 is World Book Day. Has anyone been to this exhibition before (it sounds like a yearly occurrence)?

I've been searching online and can't find much about it. (The search words are far too general; I'm getting everything from articles about books/WBD, to the upcoming Royal Wedding.) While I studied English Literature in college, we just want to focus on seeing the Castle. I also read in an article that the Semi State Rooms are open in February. I can't get an official calendar on those dates, though. I did send a contact form through the Royal Website. I'd rather go earlier in our stay, if we can see the Semi State Rooms, I think. Are these rooms worth seeing?

I'm also worried about going on World Book Day. We accidentally saw Versailles during their once-per-month, free Sunday. The crowds were extra hellish. It was wall-to-wall people, horrible crowd control, and barely enjoyable. That was less than two years ago. We're basically going back to Paris, this trip, to hit Versailles again. I'm probably comparing apples to oranges, but I know Brits love their books. I just can't guesstimate its size. If WBD isn't too crowded, and the Semi State Rooms are closed, we will go on March 2. If the Semi State Rooms are open through the end of February, I think we'll go then.

Aside from one day devoted to seeing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and an afternoon tea reservation at Claridge's, our schedule isn't booked up. I'm not too anxious about pre-bookings as we're early for high season. I would appreciate any and all feedback!

AFAIK (and locals may correct me) I don't think it will be that big a deal. The date is different in the UK and in Windsor it is just a display in the St George's chapel chapter house. Go to Windsor whichever day works best for you.

I've never heard of WBD being the kind of event that blocks out anything else. It's just a focus for some additional activity that already deals with books to do something a bit different, and for once on the same theme as every similar organisation, and for special programmes and activities for schools. And that's about it. Most people not directly involved will either barely notice or just say "That's nice" and carry on with whatever they were doing.

http://www.worldbookday.com/news-press/news/

Thanks! You're all probably correct about World Book Day. I didn't think it would draw a crowd the size of the Royal Wedding or anything, but I worry that even locals visiting to see the exhibition might clog things up. I was more worried about missing the Semi-State Rooms by waiting until after February, as one article said they would close then.

I just reread the official website: "Opening Times" says Semi-State Rooms are open through March, meaning no rush is needed to see those.

Signed,
An over-thinking Okie