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

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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...
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CastleTalk #1: The (In)Famous Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg Will

Every once in a while, there are royal topics I'd like to express my opinion or give an explanation about but they are simply too complicated to be discussed in 140 characters over on Twitter, so I'm introducing CastleTalk here on Castles & Co. The first topic covered: The (in)famous Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg will that (allegedly) prevents Hereditary Prince Gustav zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and Carina Axelsson from getting married.  View image | gettyimages.com Sometimes yet regularly the question of why Hereditary Prince Gustav zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, owner of Schloss Berleburg , does not marry his long-time girlfriend Carina Axelsson pops up on royal forums and blogs. The alleged reason for them not marrying is that the nephew of Queen Margrethe of Denmark would lose his inheritance, including said castle, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia if he married the US-American model of Mexican and Swedish descent based on his grandf...
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The "Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfonds" or How the Bavarians Probably Got the Best Deal When the Monarchy Ended

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The Great Hall of Schloss Nymphenburg They came to power during the 12th century in the days of Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa - and on November 7, 1918, their head of the family was the first German King forced to abdicate. But in the end, the former Royal Family of Bavaria may just have gotten the best deals of all the formerly reigning families in Germany. You see, the German nobility is full of curious inheritance cases like the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg's or the Thurn und Taxis' . In addition to these internal family matters, there are also some interesting constructions between former German reigning family and the German state - or one of its federal states. Case in point: The  Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfonds . It was established as a public foundation in 1923 within the framework of the apportionment of assets and liabilities between the Free State of Bavaria and their former royal family, the Wittelsbachs. Five years prior, in 1918, the monarchi...
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