How the Beach Boys looked down the barrel of a shotgun and other salient stories about Loenersloot Castle

To be ennobled, the family needed a pedigree. And so one was made up. It hangs on one of the walls of the castle. But only the names of the bottom half are relatives, the rest is made up. They were real high-ranking people, but they were not family. The Martini Buys family had portraits made of these people. In a specially made box, the family took the portraits to the High Council of the Nobility. But he didn’t get in. “They said, that’s not right. Half of those family members are made up. So they didn’t want to honor the application. But King Willem I had just become king and he said: we need many people of nobility. These people are well known, they have a lot of money and do good things, so we’re going to ennoble them.”