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Confession of a Castleholic: Yours truly does have weak spot for cheesy fictional royal dramas. So much so that I can actually come up with a list of movies with the most ridiculous storylines - and guess what, we have new contender in town: Netflix's "The Princess Switch" with Vanessa Hudgens which came out just a couple of days ago. ( Et mais oui , spoilers ahead.) If you start to feel a bit of déjà vu while watching Netflix's latest holiday romance you would be excused: It's a new take on "The Parent Trap", which in turn was inspired by a book written by German author Erich Kästner, this time without parents but with significant others. When American baker Stacy visits the European country of Belgravia for a baking competition, she happens to run into the fiancée of the tiny nation's crown prince, who herself hails from the country of Montenaro. (Or so I think, while she is the Duchess of Montenaro, her late father was the Grand Duke of sai

Schloss Schulzendorf

April 12, 2020

At first glance, Schulzendorf is just one of the hundreds of villages scattered in the vicinity of Berlin. At second glance, when driving through the village, it is hard to miss its unique selling point: It's Schloss . Located in the heart of the village and a former knight's estate, Schloss Schulzendorf owes its current appearance to Jewish businessmen Moritz and Richard Israel. The first castle on the same site, built during the late 17th or early 18th century, was owned by David Gottlob von Gersdorf. The military man sold the estate and castle to non other than King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia in 1718. The Hohenzollern held onto the estate for a good 100 years until they sold it to Baron Eberhard von der Reck(e) in 1812 in order to generate liquid funds. It was von der Reck(e) who built the church located on the castle grounds. During the course of the 19th century, Schloss Schenkendorf changed hands twice more. First to Meyer Jacobson and, in 1888, to Moritz I

CastleTalk: The Curious Case of the Thurn und Taxis Inheritance

March 19, 2017

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

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