Documentaries & Co: "Hessens größte Adelsfamilien" by HR

Due to me being kind of MIA lately and not being able to a) visit castles or exhibitions to write about and b) not being able to dig up the time and leisure to write about all the other places I did indeed visit during the past year, I thought I'd introduce a new feature to the blog called Documentaries & Co to keep us somehow going. At hopefully not too large intervals, I will post documentaries or otherwise interesting videos I enjoyed watching. Not all of them will be about castles per se but will all deal with the subject of royal- and nobility in some way.


First up is a 90-minute documentary entitled "Hessens größte Adelsfamilien" - literally meaning Hesse's biggest noble families though actually meaning most important families - featuring a lot of families ranging from untitled nobility with a simple von or zu in their name to some of the formerly reigning houses. I know that the documentary is in German and this blog's language is in English. However, if you have a simple grasp of the language or simply enjoy looking at old castles, this one is for you. (You won't believe how many documentaries I have watched in languages I did not understand, just because I was interested in what was shown...)

The families featured include (in order of appeance):
  • Boyneburgk
  • Schwertzell zu Willingshausen
  • Baumbach
  • Gilsa
  • Matuschka-Greiffenclau
  • Wambolt von Umstadt
  • Trott zu Solz
  • Schenck zu Schweinsberg
  • Dörnberg
  • Berlepsch
  • Riedesel zu Eisenbach
  • Brentano
  • Savigny
  • Opel
  • Kühlmann von Stumm-Ramholz
  • Solms (-Hohensolms-Lich/-Laubach/-Braunfels)
  • Ysenburg-Büdingen
  • Isenburg
  • Erbach (-Schönburg/-Fürstenau/-Erbach)
  • Waldeck und Pyrmont
  • Nassau (-Dillenburg/-Weilburg)
  • Hesse (-Kassel/-Darmstadt)

Currently popular posts...

Why You Shouldn't Bother Watching "Sisi", the New TV Series By RTL

Image
Hi there! I watched a series today that was so bad it made be write the first blog post in one and a half years. Will I write more again in the future? I don't know, I guess we'll see. In the meantime, follow all my latest castle adventures over on Instagram . See you there! Empress Elisabeth of Austria, the immortal Sisi, has inspired the imagination of the people for more than a century now. Her life, her love, her tragedies, her death. Adored, free spirited and one of the original royal IT girls. A face that could launch a thousands ships, well, bring peace to two feuding nations by simply being her charming self. A woman that, 120 years after her death, can still draw crowds and be the foundation stone of what seems like half the tourist industry of several regions. (Okay, that might have been slightly exaggerated but have you ever been to Vienna and seen the souvenir shops?) So it's not too surprising that time and time again, cinema and TV productions have tried to ca
Read more

Leiningen/Prussia Wedding in Amorbach: The Guests (Part 1)

Image
On Saturday, Hereditary Prince Ferdinand of Leiningen and Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia celebrated their religious wedding in the German city of Amorbach. As is the case when two royals get hitched, there were loads of royals and nobles in attendance. So without further ado, here's my first of - I'm sure - many, many posts of the wedding guests.  Prince Christian and Prince Philipp of Prussia, twin sons of Prince Adalbert.  On the left: Prince Christian-Ludwig of Prussia, son of Prince Christian-Sigismund.  Countess Marie of Limburg-Stirum.  Count Michael of Hochberg.  Prince Andreas and Princess Louise of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. From left to right: (Probably) Princess Olga of Hanover, Prince Otto of Hanover, Prince Heinrich of Hanover, Princess Thyra of Hanover, Countess Marie of Hochberg (née Princess of Hanover), Princess Theresa of Leiningen and Princess Cecilia of Leiningen.  Another shot of the group.  Prince Otto of Hanover and Pri
Read more

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. Princess Gloria and Prince Johannes of Thurn und Taxis 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 a
Read more