Family Ties

 

        

            On a recent sparkling September morning, a group of Association members of the Partnerschaftsverein Backnang-Chelmsford gathered high atop a mountain ridge overlooking the scenic Jagst river valley to take a tour of Langenburg castle, one of many castles dotting the Baden-Wuertemberg countryside. Here we learned that pork pies and sausage rolls are not the only connections between the British Isles and the undulating hills of Hohenlohe.

            The castle has been the home of the Hohenlohe-Langenburg dynasty since the 13^th century with ties to the British royal family extending back to the 1828 marriage of Queen Victoria’s beloved half-sister, Feodora, to Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, first cousin of Queen Adelaide, herself a Hohenlohe on her mother’s side. Further still, the current inhabitant, Prince Philipp, is nephew to King Charles III via the Duke of Edinburgh’s sister, Princess Margarita. He is also godson to The Princess Royal.

            Consequently, visitors will not only learn about the castle’s rich architectural history but will also discover an array of British touches including the English landscape garden complete with tea tower, Queen Victoria’s coronation glove and photos of then Prince Charles who visited in 2013 as part of an international forum on sustainability. The many windmills spinning atop the surrounding mountain ridges testify to a shared avuncular interest in green energy.  

            Tourists looking for energy of another sort will do well to peek into the vintage car museum housed in the former stables before moseying down the cobblestoned streets to Café Bauer. Here await iconic, cone-shaped bags of Wibele, tiny vanilla-scented biscuits which royal confectioners have been patiently piping out onto baking sheets since 1763.  As Queen Elizabeth II discovered during a state visit in 1965, no trip to the Hohenlohe relations at Langenburg would be complete without a crispy bite of sweet nostalgia.