Princesses, expos, and inflatable beds

Stephan Weil, mayor of Hannover, David McAllister,

 

and the princesses of York

 A few days ago, two British princesses visited Hannover. Eugenie and Beatrice made the trip in honor of the re-opening of the Herrenhausen castle. Yes, we have a local castle. It was built around 1820 when Hannover used to be a kingdom. It belonged to Welfen family, known in English as the Guelphs (because that is obviously easier to spell).

The castle had been closed for 70 years, since it was damaged in World War II, and is now open again with modern renovations for use as a conference center. I guess we needed more of those. Hannover is big on expos, and fairs, and conventions. Every month or so there is some big event at the convention center that brings in people from all over Germany and sometimes all over the world. To Hannover? That's right.  In addition to the normal industry and corporate conventions, Hannover hosts a baby expo, the German poultry show, and a trade fair for Middle Eastern carpet businesses.
CeBIT, the largest IT conference in the world, is held here in March.

I've been told that we could rent out our apartment, or even just our guest room, and make a pile of money during CeBIT. Would it be worth what I make in a month of substitute teaching to have a strange German computer guy hanging out in my apartment for a few days? Before I make that decision I would have to check whether an inflatable guest bed qualifies as acceptable conference accommodation.

Back to the Brits... why would the princesses make a trip here? Hannover is heavily linked to England. My basic understanding is that the Guelphs, who became known as the House of Hanover, were like the royalty's farm team for couple of centuries. Whenever some noble person needed to find a husband or wife, they came here, and eventually Hannover was linked to England through these families (somewhere in this process, the English decided to spell Hanover with one 'n' just to be different). Their descendents eventually came in line for the throne. The House of Hanover ruled Britain starting with George I around 1715 until Queen Victoria died in 1901.

I don't really care about British royalty. I am not British, nor do I plan to be. However, it's hard to ignore all of the influence the English have had on Hannover's history, and hard to miss the news about a royal visit. The princesses were hosted by the governor of Niedersachsen, David McAllister. McAllister himself is half Scottish, so they probably had tea and scones together, then talked about football scores.

I'll write more about the House of Hanover soon, as I attempt to find out who all the statues around town are supposed to be and try to decipher other, weirder, works of public art. Until then, I will watch for groups of corporate convention-goers walking around town in packs, and try to spot those who are headed to the poultry show.