CastleView: The Real Versailles

Photo: BBC
After the fictional "Versailles" over the weekend, let's have a look at "The Real Versailles" - or at least a BBC documentary by that name. The 2016 documentary actually takes the TV series and digs deeper into it's historical background. Recommended not only as a complimentary view to the TV series!

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Schloss Hohenstein

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Before I headed to Coburg  early this summer to discover the city's plentiful architectural highlights, I asked around on Instagram for any tips regarding lesser known places in its vicinity to discover. By way of Eva , who runs  the wonderful German-language site Burgdame about her (castle) travels and more, came the recommendation of Schloss Hohenstein - and what a great one it was! Going to Schloss Hohenstein may feel like heading to the end of the world, but nestled away in the hills and woods near Coburg you will find a true fairytale of a castle. Firstly mentioned in 1306, Schloss Hohenstein came into the hands of the Lichtensteins, a Franconian noble family not to be confused with the Liechtensteins with an extra "E" of the Principality, around 150 years later. The preceding building located on the same hill, however, was destroyed during the course of the German Peasants' War of 1525. The uninhabitable remnants of the castle were rebuilt abo...
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CastleTalk: The Curious Case of the Thurn und Taxis Inheritance

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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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