Search This Blog

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

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

Beyond Royal Splendour: Three Noble Palaces to Discover in Madrid

June 28, 2022

You have been to Madrid a couple of times and have seen all the royal palaces or simply like to venture off the beaten track and avoid the crowds? In today's post we have got you covered in both cases as we have a look at not one but three nobles palaces in the Spanish capital to discover. Palacio di Liria The Palacio di Liria is the only one of today's palaces still owned by a noble family, and one of Spain's most important noble families at that: the Dukes of Alba. Legends has it that they are so wealthy they can walk from the north of Spain to the south without taking a step off their own property. Whether that’s true or not, their Madrid residence - built between 1767 and 1785 on the orders of the third Duke of Berwick and Liria, Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart y Colón, whose descendants also became Dukes of Alba - sure is a sight to behold. The Palacio di Liria was designed by Ventura Rodríguez in Neo-Classical style. Sadly, all but the facades were destroyed by fire during

Powered by Blogger