This is a guideline on naming articles on a castle, country house, palace, château or kasteel.
Note that:
- Both the Dutch word kasteel and the French word chateâu refer both to fortified defensive buildings (castles proper) and to stately aristocratic homes (chateâu, manor houses or country houses).
- As a result, it is common to see both types of building translated into English as 'castle', although many of them are not castles proper.
- Combined with the complication that some aristocratic homes were once intended for defence, it is difficult to separate them.
How to name the articles:
- Keep the local name. Example: Kasteel van Arenberg, Château de Seneffe
- If it is a château (stately residence, the French term is the normal one in English), describe it as such on the article's page.
- Obvious fortified defensive buildings (castles proper) may be called 'castle' if desired. Example: Gravensteen
- Grand buildings with obvious connections to royalty may be called 'palace'. Example: Royal Palace of Laeken