CastleMemory: Schloss Charlottenburg

A very short walk down memory lane to yesterday
and a Sunday morning stroll through the park of Schloss Charlottenburg
- now without scaffolding on the front facade
and an autumnal view from the back!

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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. 
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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 grandfather's will. Whil…
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Royal Wedding in Hanover: The Guests (Part 1)

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Today in Hanover, Hereditary Prince Ernst-August of Hanover married Ekaterina Malysheva. Here are some of the guests, in no particular order... Margrave Max and Margravine Valerie of Baden, née Archduchess Valerie of Austria, with their son Prince Michael and his wife Princess Christina of Baden.  Count Friedrich of Ortenburg and his wife Countess Christine, née Baroness of Wangenheim, with their sons Max and Albert, who were two of the page boys. Count Karl of Solms-Laubach and I presume one of his daughters.  Andrés and Lauren Santo Domingo. Another picture of  Andrés and Lauren Santo Domingo.  Prince Georg-Friedrich of Prussia and his wife Princess Sophie, née Princess of Isenburg. Another picture of the couple. Prince Heinrich of Hanover, uncle of the groom, his wife Princess Thyra, née von Westernhagen, and their sons Prince Albert and Prince Julius.  Another picture of Prince Heinrich and Princess Thyra of Hanover. Prince Andreas and Princess Alexandra of Leiningen. She is a bo…
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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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...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 recap: In 1943, Fürst Gustav Albrecht of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg drew up a will for his inheri…
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