CastleView: The Fairytale Castles of King Ludwig II

Photo: BBC
BBC's "The Fairytale Castles of King Ludwig II" by Dan Cruickshank gives an inside glimpse into the three fairytale castles of King Ludwig II of Bavaria: Schloss Neuschwanstein, Schloss Herrenchiemsee and Schloss Linderhof - three fantasies come to life.


Currently popular posts...

CastleTalk: The Curious Case of the Thurn und Taxis Inheritance

Image
The death of Richard Fürst zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg earlier this week saw a surge in interest in my take on the (in)famous will of inheritance looming over the family. One point about the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg inheritance that many seem to find especially curious is the fact that the late Prince Richard never actually owned his family's fortune but that it was instead passed from his father - who went missing during World War 2 - to a yet unborn grandson - who was born in 1969 - (or anyone else, really, who would inherit after Prince Richard). The German nobility, however, isn't short of interesting inheritance constructions - case in point: The Thurn und Taxis inheritance.
The Thurn und Taxis family isn't just famous for their fabulous wealth, estimated at around $ 2.5 billion today - even though Princess Gloria of Thurn und Taxis says it less than a billion - but also for their lifestyle to go along with it. In fact, Princess Gloria of Thurn und Taxis may si…
Read more

Neues Palais (Potsdam)

Image
The Neues Palais, or New Palace, in Potsdam may neither be the most famous nor the most beautiful of the city's plentiful palaces, yet there is something incredibly fascinating about the place for it seems the one where it is easiest to meet history. If the walls of the palace originally built by Friedrich the Great could talk, they would have quite a story to tell. All that culminates in one of the first rooms you get to see when visiting the palace: Worn-out wall coverings, old masters, missing paintings, a graffiti by Soviet soldiers, a contrasting red Baroque chair - there are few places where you can get so close to the changing history of Germany. Like so many of Potsdam's palaces, the Neues Palais owes its existence to King Friedrich II of Prussia, better known as 'the Great'. In difference to his other palaces, Friedrich never intended to use the New Palace as a residence for himself but instead as a place to stay for his guests. While one of the last examples…
Read more

From Aldovia to Genovia: 5 Of The Most Ridiculous Fictional Royal Movies

Image
The other night, Netflix suggested me to watch a movie called "A Christmas Prince" and, well, I didn't have much to do, didn't care for anything mind-stimulating and thus did. What I thought of it? It was one of the most ridiculous storylines I have ever seen in a movie dealing with royalty! It, however, tempted me to come up with a list of fictional movies portraying royalty with the most ridiculous and cringe-worthy storylines. Mind you, I will not be including movies dealing with actual current and historical royalty even though those are occasionally pretty ridiculous too. I also asked around on Twitter and got some interesting suggestions, so check those out too. And yes, attention: spoilers ahead!
***
A Christmas Prince
An American reporter goes undercover as a nanny to get the inside scoop on a playboy prince, who turns out to be not such a playboy after all but has an evil noble ex-girlfriend who sold stories about him to the papers yet he somehow keeps her a…
Read more