thumb|Original Coat of arms of the family, from the Scheiblersches Wappenbuch
The House of Castell is a German noble family of mediatised counts of the old Holy Roman Empire. In 1901, the heads of the two family branches, Castell-Castell and Castell-Rüdenhausen, were each granted the hereditary title of Prince by Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria. The company opened branches in New York (1849), London (1851) and Paris (1855), and then expanded to Vienna (1872) and St. Petersburg (1874).
thumb|Faber Castle at [[Stein, Bavaria|Stein near Nuremberg]]
thumb|right|Faber-Castell works at Stein
thumb|Faber-Castell works at [[Geroldsgrün]]
A descendant of the first Prince of Castell-Rüdenhausen, Count Alexander von Castell-Rüdenhausen (1866–1928), married Baroness Ottilie von Faber (1877–1944), heiress of the Faber pencil "dynasty", in 1898. in the German Empire, a mediatised nobleman's marriage to Lothar's granddaughter would have been deemed morganatic, and the count's trafficking in commerce considered an act of social derogation for a member of the Hochadel, so Alexander renounced his birth rank prior to the marriage. He was granted the new hereditary title of Graf (Count) von Faber-Castell by Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria, for the descendants of his marriage to the Faber heiress. Although Alexander and Ottilie divorced in 1918, the Faber business trust had conferred headship of the company on Alexander,
In 1927, Alexander resumed his original name for himself, his second wife (born a countess, Margit Zedtwitz von Moravan und Duppau, 1886–1973), and their son, Radulf (1922–2004). Anton Wolfgang Graf von Faber-Castell left a son, Charles Alexander von Faber-Castell (born in Zürich 20 June 1980), of his 1986 marriage to Carla Mathilde Lamesch. His widow, Mary Hogan (born 1951), continues as managing director of Faber-Castell's cosmetics division. His three daughters, Katharina Elizabeth (born 5 May 1988), and twins Sarah Angela and Victoria Maria (born 1 August 1996), succeed him.
Hubertus's daughter, Floria-Franziska Gräfin von Faber-Castell, (b. 1974) was married at Kronberg on 17 May 2003 in a much-publicised wedding attended by members of Europe's reigning families, to Donatus, Landgrave of Hesse, a great-grandson of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and a grand-nephew of Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark, sister of Britain's prince consort Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. His second daughter is German-Swiss philanthropist Caroline von Faber-Castell, who is married to Düsseldorf-based entrepreneur Michael Gotzens. Patrick von Faber-Castell publicly married German actress Mariella Ahrens in Faber-Castell Castle, near Nuremberg. The siblings own one of the most important collections of silver and jewelry in Germany. Most of the pieces are available to the public in various German museums. The private collection has been recorded by the Kunstmuseum Köln and has been published under the name ("A Rhenish Silver Treasure – Privately Owned Jewellery and Equipment").
Other items
Castell, Texas in the USA is named after Count Carl Frederick Christian of Castell-Castell (1801–1850), who was the Vice President and Business Manager at the beginning of the Adelsverein, a German settlement organization.
The present heads of the existing two branches are Albrecht, Prince of Castell-Castell and Otto Friedrich, Prince of Castell-Rüdenhausen.
Literature
- Almanach de Gotha, Gotha 1901 and 1930.