Gloria von Thurn und Taxis
Gloria, Dowager Princess of Thurn and Taxis (Mariae Gloria Ferdinanda Joachima Josephine Wilhelmine Huberta; born Countess Gloria von Schönburg-Glauchau, 23 February 1960) is a German noblewoman, socialite, businesswoman, Catholic activist, and artist. Through her marriage to Johannes, 11th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, she acquired the courtesy title Princess Consort of Thurn und Taxis.
"Princess TNT" redirects here. For another use, see Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis.Gloria von Thurn und Taxis
Mariae Gloria Ferdinanda Joachima Josephine Wilhelmine Huberta Gräfin von Schönburg-Glauchau
23 February 1960
Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg
West Germany
Catholic activist, artist, socialite, businesswoman
Early life and family[edit]
Gloria Gräfin von Schönburg-Glauchau was born on 23 February 1960 in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany. Her father, Joachim, Count of Schönburg-Glauchau, was the nominal head of the Glauchau branch of the German princely House of Schönburg, a mediatised dynasty within the former Holy Roman Empire.[2] Her mother, Countess Beatrix Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék, was a member of the Széchenyi family and a descendant of Count István Széchenyi. Her parents divorced in 1986 and her father married a second time to Ursula Zwicker (b. 1951). Gloria is one of five children from her father's two marriages. She has 2 brothers, Carl-Alban Count von Schönburg-Glauchau (born 2 February 1966), formerly head of the family who renounced his rights after his marriage to Juliet Helene Beechy-Fowler (b. 1966), daughter of Nicholas Beechy-Fowler (b. 1937) and Countess Jutta von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth (b. 1938). Her younger brother Alexander, Count of Schönburg-Glauchau, a writer and the current nominal head of the Schönburg-Glauchau branch of the family is married according to the rules of the house to Princess Irina of Hesse (b. 1971), grandniece of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, consort of Queen Elizabeth II. One of her sisters was the socialite Countess Maya von Schönburg-Glauchau.[3] Gloria was baptized as an infant and raised in the Catholic faith.[4]
Childhood and adolescence[edit]
When she was a child, Gloria and her family moved to Africa, living in Togo and Somalia, where her father worked as an author and a journalist.[2] Although a descendant of the German nobility, her family had little wealth as a result of Communism in Germany and Hungary.[5] Her family's ancestral homes, castles Wechselburg, Hinterglauchau, Forderglauchau, Rochsburg, Alt-Penig and Neu-Penig had been seized by the Soviet government of Saxony in 1945. She moved back to Germany with her family in 1970 and was enrolled at the Konrad-Adenauer-Gymnasium in Meckenheim, later studying at Kloster Wald, a girl's boarding school in a Benedictine convent. As a teenager she worked as a waitress at a ski resort in St Moritz, Switzerland.
In 1979, at the age of 19, Gloria met Johannes, Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis at a luncheon he was hosting at Nürnberger Bratwurst Glöckl in Munich. She began a relationship with the 53-year-old man soon after and married on 31 May 1980 in a Catholic ceremony in Regensburg, Bavaria. At the time of their marriage Johannes was estimated to be worth between US$2 and US$3 billion.[6][3] Gloria and her husband are fourth cousins twice removed, both descending from Karl Alexander, 5th Prince of Thurn and Taxis.[7] Upon their marriage she became the Hereditary Princess of Thurn and Taxis. When her father-in-law, Karl August, 10th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, died in 1982 her husband became the 11th Prince of Thurn and Taxis.[8][2][9]
The couple had three children:[2]
Media related to Gloria, Princess of Thurn and Taxis at Wikimedia Commons