Confessions of a Castleholic

You would be forgiven to think that a castle named Oranienburg would be located somewhere in the Netherlands or at least the area in Germany where the the Dutch royal family's ancestors hail from. Located in the city of the same name just north of Berlin,  Schloss Oranienburg  does indeed have a Dutch connection even though it's located far away from the Netherlands. Originally the settlement was known by its Slavic name Bothzowe and later Germanised as Bötzow. At least two other castles, a fortified one and a hunting lodge, were located on the same site previously.  As the story goes, it was in 1650 that Elector Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, who later became known as the Great Elector, and his first wife Luise Henriette of Nassau, granddaughter of Willem of Orange, visited the area on a hunting trip. The young electress was immediately taken by the landscape as it reminded her of her home, the Netherlands. Later that same year, Friedrich Wilhelm gifted...