Confessions of a Castleholic

Few castles ever become legendary in themselves: Versailles, Neuschwanstein, maybe a handful more. Probably even fewer rooms of a castle share the same status and when German Baroque sculptor and architect Andreas Schlüter was commissioned to design a room made of amber for Schloss Charlottenburg in 1701, nobody knew what a legend it would become. Constructed by Gottfried Wolfram, master craftsman to the Danish court of King Frederik IV of Denmark, with the help of amber masters Ernst Schacht and Gottfried Turau from Danzig, the room wasn't even installed at its originally intended place but instead at the Stadtschloss in Berlin. It was at the city palace where Tsar Peter the Great first lay eyes on the creation and liked it. Eager to please, King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia, gifted the room to his Russian counterpart. In return, he got a Russo-Prussian alliance against Sweden as well as a bunch of really tall guys, yes literally, for his army. Pretty good deal, e...

Some of you may have noticed from Instagram or Twitter that I was in Amsterdam this past weekend. In the Dutch capital I met up with a few fellow royal watchers and together we went to the Hermitage Amsterdam to see the exhibition "Catherine, the Greatest - Self-polished Diamond of the Hermitage". In 2009, a Dutch branch of the famous museum of St. Petersberg was opened and naturally it often showcases the treasures of one of the oldest and largest museums in the world. As the name suggests, "Catherine, the Greatest - Self-polished Diamond of the Hermitage" focuses on the life and work of the woman who founded the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersberg in 1764. Born a Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, Catherine became Empress of All the Russias two years prior following a coup d'état during which her husband, Peter III, was assassinated. The Imperial Crown of Russia, which was made for Catherine II's coronation, is the centre piece of the exhibition and no ma...

Today is Palace Day - and so palaces across Europe joined together on Twitter to share their history, collections and behind-the-scenes pictures, highlighting their common culture and heritage. Anyone can take part in #PalaceDay by sharing their palace stories. As on Castleholic basically everyday is #PalaceDay, I thought I'd share my palace (and castle) bucket list - or at least nine out of the entries of my list of Top 10 royal places to see in my lifetime. In no particular order...   Château de Versailles The mother of all palaces and yes it's a great shame of my Castleholic life that I haven't visited yet. Even though it's probably going to be overly crowded, it's still a must to go as I've seemingly already seen the Versailles of the north, south, east and west - and everything in between, just not the actual one. Alnwick Castle I fell in love with pictures of the home of the Duke of Northumberland in England's north quite a while a...

Photo: BBC 4 So, I was sick the other weekend* and I watched some documentaries and I found "Lucy Worsley's Empire of the Tsars" by BBC. I only know little about Romanov history, or rather some parts of it, but am in now way anywhere near to knowledgable, so the three one-hour parts of the documentary gave a nice overview. Reinventing Russia Age of Extremes Road to Revolution *Yep, I pretty much only get sick during the weekends, not the weeks - I'm every employer's dream.

At the outbreak of the First World War three cousins reigned over Europe's greatest powers - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and King George V of Britain. This two-part series looks at the role played by the three monarchs, and their relationships with each other, in the outbreak of war. It was broadcasted by the BBC last year to mark the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War. Part 1: A House Divided Part 2: Into the Abyss