Stalemate — 21.8

Solution

8	T	S	♘	E	M	E	C	S
7	E	I	A	P	T	L	♔	K
6	W	L	M	S	N	P	H	♕
5	♘	H	N	E	R	H	A	E
4	O	♗	♘	R	I	S	T	E
3	W	P	A	N	Z	♕	O	Q
2	E	R	K	T	V	M	F	O
1	C	D	♖	I	L	E	♖	D
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

The various names in the story represent chess pieces:

Name	Piece		Name	Piece
Neuschwanstein	♖ Rook		James Douglas	♘ Knight
Henry VII	♔ King		Maria Theresa	♕ Queen
Cleopatra	♕ Queen		Thomas Becket	♗ Bishop
William Marshal	♘ Knight

The story helps give the location to each piece, where possible locations are represented by a *. The letters in the spaces not attacked by any pieces, in reading order, spell the solution:

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