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I think it all has to do with general wind patterns at the given moment. Heathrow is only a few miles to the west of the castle and planes generally take off with the wind or land into it. Most of my flights into Heathrow have brought us right over the city and along the Thames to land.
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The prevailing wind is from the west and Heathrow's runways are aligned East/West. (09L/27R and 09R/27L).
At the moment we have a high pressure area sitting over the country giving rise to easterly winds hence approaching over Windsor to land into wind. The airport had a runway aligned NE/SW (05/23) which was very handy for those winter days when strong south westerlies blow in from the frequent Atlantic low pressure areas. Unfortunately, this runway was closed some years ago to provide more terminal/apron space and, as happened a few weeks ago, many aircraft had to divert to Stansted, amongst other places, because the cross wind component at Heathrow was out of limits.
Seeing the runway through the side window can concentrate the mind wonderfully. The Emirates A380 at approx 3.00 being a case in point.