Next year, Exeter will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of being twinned with Bad Homburg in Germany. The town of Bad Homburg lies at the foot of the Taunus mountains, about a 15 minute drive north-west of Frankfurt. It is a beautiful spa town with a castle and splendid woodland surroundings. It is considered to be one of the wealthiest towns in Germany and it is best known for its mineral springs and spa and most importantly, for its casino. The casino in Bad Homburg (Spielbank Bad Homburg) was established over 175 years ago and is one of the oldest and most famous casinos in Europe. Bad Homburg is also the home of the Homburg hat, originally designed as hunting headgear but made popular by the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII, who often visited Bad Homburg.
The Exeter Twinning Circle feel very fortunate to be twinned with such a fine town which has many strong links with England, the most important being the historic link which started back at the time of King George III. Princess Elizabeth was one of King George III’s six daughters. She was 44 years old, still unmarried and living in the royal household, when she met the German Prince Frederick of Hesse-Homburg, the heir to the throne of Hesse-Homburg, one of the smallest states in the German Confederation. Four years later, she married him in spite of her family resistance, largely to escape her domineering mother and have a home of her own.
Their marriage was considered a happy one, although it only lasted a little over ten years, until Frederick died in 1829. Princess Elizabeth proved to be very popular with the people of Bad Homburg. Thanks to her large dowry and annual allowance, she had roads built in her new home town and had the Gothic House (Gotisches Haus) built in the palace’s grounds. She also took care of restoration of the Homburg Castle and was involved in caring for the poor. Using seeds and seedlings from England, she created an English garden in the Homburg Castle. She was much loved by the people of Bad Homburg and is still held by them in high esteem.
The Exeter Twinning Circle are very excited to be celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Exeter-Bad Homburg twinning. There will be a visit to Exeter from twinners in Bad Homburg (29 April to 4 May 2025), as well as an outward trip from Exeter to Bad Homburg later in the year. The Exeter Twinning Circle are currently preparing a celebratory programme for the visit and are looking for more hosts in order to mark this very special occasion. They hope you will be interested in joining them. Please note, language is not a problem – most of the German twinners speak perfect English and they love an opportunity to practise it.
The group is holding a coffee morning in central Exeter to help fund raise for this period, on Saturday 30 November 10am-12noon in St Stephen’s Church on the High Street, Exeter. It is hoped that there will be representation for each of the countries that Exeter is twinned with: Rennes(France) and Terracina (Italy).
If you would like to join the group in celebrating this event – or even hosting – or would like further information please contact their Secretary at secretary.exetertc@gmail.com or visit the website https://exetertwinningcircle.org.uk