A BLAST FROM THE PAST: FEUERWERKSREVOLUTION IN BERLIN

Berlin Calendar: 3 August, 1835

Born on August 3, 1770, Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm III celebrated his birthdays liked he lived: preferably away from the Berlin court. When children were small and his charming wife, Luise, still alive, it was the Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island is a river island on the Havel in Berlin-Wannsee) and its wooden palace they went for.

Many years later, as the day arrived again, the then 63-year-old monarch still preferred the modest rooms on top of his summer palace to the pomp and circumstance of the city. Friedrich Wilhelm has never been a party boy.

Private royal bedroom next to the royal den in the Pfaueninsel palace tower. Photo by Wolfgang Pfauder, Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg.

Which turned out to have been a blessing in disguise as that year, on 3 August, 1835, the birthday bash held in Berlin went a bit awry…