So Scandalous! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Kent

The castle can be found in the so called "Garden of England", Kent, and is open to visitors. This beautiful home dates back to the 13th century, and was converted into a manor house in the year 1462 by Geoffrey Boleyn. The building was bought in 1903 by the American William Waldorf Astor, who spent a lavish amount of money in renovating the building and the gardens.

It contains a number of Tudor artifacts, including a book of hours that once belonged to Anne Boleyn. You can also take a look there at Astor's fine collection of statues in the Italian garden. The Boleyns might not have seen them, but you can.

Answer: United Kingdom Government

Yes, Whitehall today is synonymous with the British Government. There may be no cocks fighting nowadays - but some politicians surely still know how to puff up like a cock.

Getting back into architecture, a few original Tudor structures are still intact. The most noteworthy is an undercroft now known as the "Henry VIII Wine Cellar", which survived thanks to a well-built Tudor brick-vaulted roof. It is now found under the Ministry of Defence headquarters building, which dates from 1964. Which might have interested Henry VIII: even if he was more attack than defence, he certainly loved his booze.

London Zoo is in Regent's Park and up to 2016 there is no Disneyland in the UK.

Answer: Tower of London

The Tower of London is one place not to be left out. It was erected in the year 1066 (yes, that year when William the Conqueror conquered). It was meant to impress and it still does.

Other buildings were added in later times, including the church of St. Peter ad Vincula, who can be found in the tower's inner ward since 1520. Anne Boleyn was buried there, as well as her brother George and Katherine Howard, another of Henry VIII's wives.

The so-called "princes in the tower" were brothers of Henry VIII's mother Elizabeth, who had been brought there on order of their uncle Richard III. The former Boleyn girl is said to spook around there, carrying her head, but not on her shoulders...

And don't forget to see the place where she lost her head and if you need some relief from so much gruesome stuff, go and look at the Crown Jewels in the appropriately named Jewel House.

Answer: West Lothian, some miles/kilometers west of Edinburgh

Linlithgow Palace still exists as a magnificent ruin in the town of Linlithgow in West Lothian, close to Linlithgow Loch. The building of the palace started in 1424 at the time of James I of Scotland, an ancestor of Mary. Later a fire damaged the building, especially the roof, thanks to the military actions of the Duke of Cumberland.

Orkney Islands and the Scottish Highland have some wonderful places to look at, while the ruined castle in the vicinity of Loch Ness is Urquhart Castle.

And if you pass your time at Edmiston Drive in Glasgow, you might be there to watch the Glasgow Rangers playing soccer. Some think this is something majestic.

Answer: Holyrood Palace

This beautiful building is the official residence of the British monarch while visiting Scotland. The palace as you see it now was mainly built between 1671-1678, although it has its roots much deeper in the past.

Holyrood Abbey was founded in 1128, in 1370 King David II was the first Scottish King buried there. Between the years 1501 to 1505 a new Gothic palace was constructed on the order of King James IV. Further Royals ordered further changes. In the 1920s the Palace was declared as the official Royal residence on Scottish soil.

The palace can be visited, as long as the monarch isn't staying there. Or when they are preparing a garden party - that's why I couldn't get in, when I was there.

Answer: False

Another palace, another ruin. Originally built around 1100 as a Norman motte, Mary Queen of Scots might have consoled herself that at some place in time that place was Scottish. But only until King John (yes, the one you know from Robin Hood) confiscated the place. Later in time King Richard III was born inside these walls.

In the years after Mary's beheading the former impressive building fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1635.They did excellent work in that respect: there's not much left nowadays.

Answer: Hofburg, Vienna

When on the second November 1755 the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria gave birth to her 15th. and nearly last child she hadn't to worry to find a room for this child of hers. The Viennese Hofburg was big enough for that.

Hofburg Palace- I would translate it Court castle palace- was built in the 13th century and had expanded since. You can visit a gothic chapel, take a look at the Imperial Insignia of the Holy Roman Empire. How about the Leopold wing, which is late Renaissance architecture? And don't miss the winter riding school.

Marie Antoinette left this palace in 1770 to marry the Dauphin of France.

Oh, Vienna! She must have missed it later in her life.

All the other palaces I mentioned are former royal residences turned into presidential dwellings. Bellevue palace hosts the German president, the Presidential mansion - erstwhile named the new royal palace- in Athens is for his/her Greek colleague - while the Belém Palace is the home of Portuguese presidents.

Answer: Palace of Versailles

A stone and brick hunting lodge was begun for Louis XIII in 1623, but the château was too small for Louis XIV. He wanted more. And he got all the bling possible in this era. Gigantic paintings, a splendid garden with a mass of fountains, statues everywhere. There was even enough space to house all the courtiers. The most splendor was shown into the hall of mirrors. Venice held the monopoly on mirrors, the costs were dazzling.

As a kind of wedding present a theater was built in the late King Louis XVI and his Austrian bride Marie Antoinette. Later Madame la Reine got a nice president in the form of the petit Trianon, which she changed extensively and expensively to her taste.

All other Palaces given as possible answers can be found in Berlin, Germany. French was quite fashionable there at one time, especially after Versailles opened its gates.

Answer: Conciergerie

The Conciergerie got its name from the word concierge, a high ranked person who acted as a housekeeper of the king.

The Palais de la Cité was the royal residence from the sixth century until the 14th century. From that time on it was used as a government building holding the treasury and in latter times a prison. In all this time changes and addition were made, as is to be expected. You can still admire some medieval architecture like three towers: the Silver tower- the royal treasure was stored there, the Caesar tower and the Bonbec, the place of the torture chamber.

At the time of the reign of terror following the storming of the Bastille the tribunal worked in the great hall. Two of their many victims were their former king and queen, whose cell can be visited.

Answer: Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary Stuart, former Queen of Scotland, died on a scaffold erected in the great hall of Fotheringhay Castle. She had two earls as witnesses, and some other onlookers. They watched a cruel spectacle, as the beheading was botched. As the castle is a ruin, the exact place might be difficult to find now. She was first buried in Scotland, her son moved her later into Westminster Abbey, London, close to Elizabeth I.

Anne of Boleyn died on the Tower of London Green, and the executioner killed her with one stroke. Official witnesses were there, like Thomas Cromwell, people belonging to the court and some local dignitaries. As said before, she is buried in the church of St. Peter ad Vincula.

Marie Antoinette had the most public death. Like other victims of the revolution, she travelled on a cart to the Place de la Revolution (nowadays Place de la Concorde) and was killed by the guillotine. Later she was buried in the Basilica of St Denis, St Denis is being a suburb of Paris.