Windsor, Czech style

Hluboká nad Vltavou lies in the South Bohemian region of the Czech Republic, near Ceské Budejovice. The original royal castle of Premysl Otakar II, dating from the second half of the 13th century was rebuilt at the end of the 16th century by the Lords of Hradec, then between 1841 and 1871 was transformed into this Romantic Neo-Gothic chateau under Count Jan Adam of Schwarzenberg, modelled on Britain's Windsor Castle. The chateau is surrounded by a 1.9 square kilometre English-style park.

In 1940, the castle was seized from the last owner, Adolph Schwarzenberg by the Gestapo and confiscated by the government of Czechoslovakia after the end of the Second World War. Remarkably, its lavish interiors were preserved unscathed.