Schloss: The Fascinating Royal History of 25 German Castles

by Susan Symons

Schloss is the German word for castle or palace. This book by Susan Symons visits 25 beautiful schlösser (the plural of schloss) in Germany and tells the compelling personal stories of the colourful royalty that lived in them. It is recommended to anyone who likes history or travelogues or who is interested in people's personal stories. Germany has a rich royal history. The country was not unified until 1870, and before that there were hundreds of different kingdoms, duchies and principalities, each with their own reigning family. These have left their mark, not least in the numerous castles and palaces that dot the German countryside. This book is about visits to 25 of these German schlösser. It tells the colourful stories of some historical royal characters connected with them; characters such as the mistress of the king who tried to blackmail him and was imprisoned for 49 years; the crown princess who ran away from her husband and six children with their tutor; and the insignificant princess who was passed on by her fiancé to his brother but who ended up heiress to the throne of England. The book brings these and other stories vividly to life. With so many eligible princesses to choose from, Germany was the royal marriage market for Europe, and German princesses married into all of Europe's royal families. The book looks at how the British royal family is descended from the rulers of these German kingdoms and duchies. It also brings out two themes; the lottery of arranged dynastic marriages for royal princesses, and the equally sad fate of their landless younger brothers. The German royal princes abdicated in 1918 at the end of World War I. As they lost their royal families, many of the schlösser went into decline and became prisons, workhouses and other institutions. Some were behind the iron curtain for 50 years. The book charts these difficult years and their resurgence and use today as museums, hotels and public buildings. The book is intended to be easy to read, light-hearted and entertaining. It has more than 50 illustrations and 9 family trees. The schlösser included range from fortified castles of the middle ages, to grand palaces built in the 18th century in imitation of Louis XIV's Versailles, to stately homes from the turn of the 20th century. Many of them are not well known outside Germany and visiting these wonderful buildings is a real treat. 'This book can be seen as an inspiration ... to get out there and find the lesser known palaces and learn more about their history.' Review of Schloss in Royalty Digest Quarterly Journal

Genres: History, Royalty

212 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 2014

Reviews

[Joan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is written by a castle enthusiast who went on a castle trip in Germany. I'm not German, I'm Dutch, but still for me it's very, very strange to read the word "Schloss" when plural castles is talked about. The plural form of English castle is castles. De plural form of a Dutch slot is slotten and of Dutch kasteel is kastelen. The plural form of a German Schloss is SchlosSER. For me it is completely silly to read "The castle are .." in English, but that's what's written all the time in this book "The Schloss are ...". That's annoying, and silly, and makes me not being able to focus on the content of the book. I was really disappointed by this silly booklet.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the way the author alternated between her visits to the castles and the history of the royalty associated with each castle.