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.


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CastleTalk: The Curious Case of the Thurn und Taxis Inheritance

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

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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!
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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…
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Royal Family of Hanover to Sell Family Seat Schloss Marienburg

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Some breaking castle news coming out of Germany today: Hereditary Prince Ernst-August of Hanover will sell Schloss Marienburg, the family's seat outside of Hanover, for one symbolic euro to the state of Lower Saxony - or more specifically the Klosterkammer Hannover, a part of the State Ministry of Science and Culture running several foundations and administrating the state-owned monasteries and churches.
The Landesmuseum Hannover, the state museum, will buy important artworks and furniture for two million euros so that they can stay at the castle. Hereditary Prince Ernst-August will put further artworks valued at around six million euros in a charitable foundation to be displayed at the castle. The sale of Schloss Marienburg was announced today after rumours had been flying high for a few days. Naturally, the planned sale is going well with the opposition politicians in the state parliament so there will probably a few more days of headlines.
It was also recently announced that…
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