b'The spectacular marble rooms at the Devigarh Palace.Castles(continued from page 31)to be built in 1873. Today, the fairy tale castle, in the heart ofDenmark, about an hour north of Copenhagen. Immortalized the Carpathian Mountains, is on lease to the government byas Elsinore in Shakespeares play Hamlet, the castle dates the royal family. back to the early 1400s.Another favourite chateau is Neuschwanstein Castle,Hamletwasperformedinthecastleforthefirsttime,tomarkin the heart of Bavaria. King Ludwig II built this massive, pic- the 200th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, turesque castle in 1869. The king went into immense debtwith a cast consisting of soldiers from the castle garrison.building this palace, and was deposed for medical reasons. While visiting India, I was very fortunate to stay in sev-He mysteriously died shortly after. eral palaces, built by maharajas, before independence. My Walt Disney visited Neuschwanstein in the 1950s, andfavourite is Devigarh, located deep in the southern part of decided to build his Cinderella castle at Walt Disney World,Rajasthan.in similar style. Built in the 1700s, today it is considered one of Indias Next, we head over to England and Hever Castle, whichfinesthotels.Thegrandeuroftheroyalresidenceisfoundis well worth the visit. It was the family home of Anne Boleynthroughout. The service was exquisite and my suite consist-and was frequently visited by Henry VIII. ed of a large sitting room, a bedroom as well as a bathroom About ten minutes from Hever Castle is Selsdon Park,with two of everything, including toilets and bidets. The entire a large manor house that was purchased by King Henry,room is made of marble, including the bed. It is accented with so he had somewhere to stay when visiting the love of hisblue lapis lazlo, and has unbelievable views of the country-life. side. Believe me when I say, I did not want to leave.I had the pleasure of visiting several times, and twiceThe old saying, a mans home is his castle is very ac-stayed in the actual room where Henry VIII slept. It was quitecurate, but for a few of the wealthiest people in the world, the an honour, until I learned it was haunted. Of course, I do notsaying rings true.believe in such things, but slept with one eye open all night, just in case. Jonathan van Bilsens photosNtravel TV showAnother beautiful palace, which emerged out of Europescan be watched on RogersTV and YouTube. grand royalty, is Kronborg castle in the town of Helsingr,To follow Jonathans travel adventures visit photosNtravel.com32 FOCUS - JANUARY 2022'