Another day, another castle. The Marienburg castle is just outside the city of Hanover, Germany. The castle is relatively new, having been built in the 1860s, and extremely gorgeous. It is a bit expensive though, to visit. It was around 12.50 EUR and 8 EUR for kids, with no student prices. This is about the same price as the Neuschwanstein castle, and this castle does not seem as famous to me. However, you do not have to pay for parking, so maybe you are kind of paying the same as at a castle where you have to pay for parking and the ticket.
The entrance fee got you into your own self-guided tour through the castle, allowing you to freely explore and experience 30+ rooms of the castle, with almost everything being original. You can also pay for a tower tour or a castle grounds tour. The tower tour is basically paying to walk to the top of the central tower and get a look out for 20 minutes. This tour does have a guide and happens every hour on the hour. I feel like this extra tour was worth the money, because I love being able to look out over the surrounding area, and especially from somewhere unenclosed! The view from the tower is certainly worth it. You will have to climb some flights of stairs though, so be ready for that.
The castle tour starts in a welcome chamber of the castle, with grand golden archways and a starry blue ceiling. From there, you wander into the knights’ room, and this is where your tour really starts. You can walk wherever you want, and see the various rooms, such as the Queen’s salon, princess bedrooms, diners, libraries, and other such things.
The Queen had a writing desk in her personal salon, and hanging above the calendar was the date 23, which stood for July 23rd, 1967. This was the day the King and Queen’s family had to leave the country, as they were exiled, and so that is how the calendar stayed.
The castle was built starting in 1858 until 1867 as a gift to Queen Marie for her birthday. Unfortunately, the family only got to live in the castle from 1866 to 1867 because they were exiled from Hanover after Prussia won a war. For this reason, any unfinished construction of the castle was also halted in 1867. After this, the castle was largely unoccupied until a grandson of the King and Queen was able to live in the castle in the mid-1900s. He did this for about 10 years, before turning the castle over to public use and restoration in the 1960s.
It was a lot of fun visiting the castle. This is definitely one of Lucas’s favorite castles. It’s nice because it is really rather modern, so it’s not decrepit and falling down. It is also not as in-your-face as the Neuschwanstein castle.
Another thing that I really liked about this castle is that it seems like a family place. Let me explain. The king had an illness at 9 years of age, causing him to go blind in one eye. When he was 13, he had an accident making him go blind in the other eye. Later on, he met Marie and fell in love with her. Marie was different because in public, she would refer to George V as sweetie or honey or things like that-she would call him pet names out of love. This typically wasn’t heard of in royal families. They always wanted to impress others, and be highly regarded and official. I liked George and Marie because they seem to keep love alive in their relationship, despite their royal duties.
With the children, they also had a different way of raising them, not akin to what people of the royal court typically did. Marie had one child first, and it was of the norm that the Queen gave her newborn to a wet nurse who would nurse the child. Marie did not like doing this, and for her next several kids, she nursed them herself. This made her father upset, and he wouldn’t let her eat at the royal table for a while.
I really like George V and Marie because they seem to do a lot to keep the family bond alive and show each other that they were special. Marriage and family life was more than just duties of royalty for them.