 Edward VII came to the throne in 1901 and immediately set about modernising Windsor Castle with " enthusiasm and zest " . Many of the rooms in the Upper Ward were de @-@ cluttered and redecorated for the first time in many years , with Edward " peering into cabinets ; ransacking drawers ; clearing rooms formerly used by the Prince Consort and not touched since his death ; dispatching case @-@ loads of relics and ornaments to a special room in the Round Tower ... destroying statues and busts of John Brown ... throwing out hundreds of ' <unk> old coloured photographs ' ... [ and ] rearranging pictures " . Electric lighting was added to more rooms , along with central heating ; telephone lines were installed , along with garages for the newly invented automobiles . The marathon was run from Windsor Castle at the 1908 Olympics , and in 1911 the pioneering aviator Thomas Sopwith landed an aircraft at the castle for the first time . 
