than 1000 items, 30 had been contributed by HM the Queen, including the State Crown of George I, while Ernst August provided the king's famous Augsburg silver throne and other silver furniture of 1720, as well as the Hanoverian crown jewels. He hosted a parallel exhibition, The Way to the Crown, at Marienburg Castle until the end of 2016, showing, among other items such as the silver furniture, the crown jewels of the Kingdom of Hannover. On 6 July 2017 the prince hosted his wedding ball in the castle. In November 2018, Prince Ernst August announced the transfer of ownership of the castle to the state of Lower Saxony, as its repair and maintenance costs were too great for him to sustain. Renovation costs of the castle, partly infested with dry rot and threatened by static problems, are estimated at 27 million Euros. He planned to transfer ownership to a state-controlled foundation (the Hanoverian Monasteries' Chamber, founded by his family in 1569, which still owns most of the secularized monasteries and ecclesiastical estates of the former kingdom), at a symbolic sales price of 1 Euro, with the foundation undertaking renovation. The remaining art collection was planned to be kept in the castle, with parts purchased by the state, parts kept by the family and lent to the state, and parts transferred to a foundation controlled by both the family and the state. The transaction however was stopped in spring 2019 by legal action taken by his father to regain ownership. Gallery References External links Castles in Lower Saxony Kingdom of Hanover Museums in Lower Saxony Historic house museums in Germany