CastleMemory: Drottningholms Slott

Another walk down memory lane
to my 2005 Swedish holiday
and Drottningholms Slott.

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Neues Fürstliches Palais (Bückeburg)

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When we think of castles, we tend to think of museums or noble homes - but some of them are used in rather modern way: From court buildings to hotels or - as in today's case - a school. The  Neues Fürstliches Palais (New Princely Palace), also simply known as Palais or Herminen-Palais for its first resident, in Bückeburg as been home to a vocational college for close to 60 years now. It's origins are very princely though. Bückeburg was, of course, the capital of the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, one of the smallest states of German Empire, and remains the home of the Schaumburg-Lippe family to this day. Their main residence is Schloss Bückeburg , a few minutes walk away from the Neues Palais . Like rulers tend to do at some point in their life, Prince Adolf I Georg wished for a new additional palace for him and his family. In 1882, he commissioned architect Hermann Schaedtler to draw up plans for a Neues Palais . Likely many changes were made to the plans for th...
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The (In)Famous Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg Will, Round 3: When There Is An Estate Worth Half a Billion Up For Grabs, That's Apparently Where Cordial Family Relations End

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Schloss Berleburg , the main residence of the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg family ...at least here on Confessions of a Castleholic , I'm sure it has been more rounds for the family. Just the other week I said over on Twitter that deposed royal families without their family disputes would only be half the fun - and one of the most intriguing family disputes within the German nobility has reared is ugly head again as of late: The inheritance dispute within the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg family. It is based on a will that was drawn up during the days of the Third Reich and includes some, well, racist, to say the least, stipulations. Yours truly still has a hard time to understand that someone would actually try to enforce those... Then again, there is an estate said to be worth about a half of a billion euros up for grabs - and that's probably where most friendships (or cordial family relations) end. (To catch up: What is this will? What is the dispute about? ) To ...
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Royals Gone Vogue: Treading the Line Between Divine Rights and Celebrity Culture

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These days royal and celebrity cultures are linked closer together then ever before. Royal fashion and style are a favourite pastime of many - and some royals have (rightly or wrongly) been described as style icons. (A term used inflationary in today's world, I might add.) Royals are featured on the covers of Vogue, Tatler and other glossy magazines or show their life on social media. The immortal Sisi , Marie-Antoinette, Diana and a few more - of course there have always been royals who had the IT factor. Yet both worlds have edged ever closer over the 20th century and have never been as closely linked as they are in today's age. But when are royals treading just too closely with the glitz and glam world of the stars and celebrities who are famous for being famous? Let's face it, monarchy is a pretty outdated concept. In a day and age when largely anything goes, it's neither new nor original that someone based on the luck of birth becomes the head of a nation. ...
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