Gloria, Princess of Thurn and Taxis

Mariae Gloria, Princess von Thurn und Taxis (Mariae Gloria Prinzessin von Thurn und Taxis, born Mariae Gloria Ferdinanda Joachima Josephine Wilhelmine Huberta Graefin von Schönburg-Glauchau, 23 February 1960) is a German businesswoman, manager, artist and member, by marriage, of the German princely House of Thurn and Taxis.

Gloria is the daughter of Joachim, Count of Schönburg-Glauchau and of Beatrix, Countess Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék. Her brother, Alexander, Count of Schönburg-Glauchau, is a bestselling writer and journalist.

Much of her youth was spent in Togo and Somalia in Africa, where her father was an author and journalist. Although a countess by birth, her family had little money, and she had worked as a waitress in the Swiss ski resort, St Moritz, before marrying her 4th cousin twice removed, Johannes, 11th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, who was born in 1926 and possessed a fortune estimated at between US$2 and US$3 billion. They are both descended from Karl Alexander, 5th Prince of Thurn and Taxis.

Gloria's frank exuberance, lavish spending, edgy attire and a whirlwind, international social life with her husband made her a social icon in the 80s, garnering her such sobriquets in media as the "punk princess" and "Princess TNT", On Johannes's death, however, the spending came to a halt as US$500 million was owed on the estate he left behind. Acting as trustee for her son, Gloria went into isolation to study finance, accounting and estate management, sold off jewelry, castles, cars, and land to preserve the family fortune, and undertook a spiritual pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in Lourdes, France from which she emerged a sobered Roman Catholic activist and philanthropist.

The couple had three children:

• Princess Maria Theresia Ludowika Klothilde Helene Alexandra, born 28 November 1980 in Regensburg. On 13 September 2014, she married Hugo Wilson, a British artist, in Tutzing, Germany. They have one daughter.
  • Mafalda Beatrix Maria Wilson (born 21 August 2015)
• Princess Elisabeth Margarete Maria Anna Beatrix, born 24 March 1982 in Regensburg.
• Prince Albert Maria Lamoral Miguel Johannes Gabriel, born 24 June 1983 in Regensburg, who succeeded his father in 1990 as both principal heir at law and nominal head of the former German princely House of Thurn and Taxis according to the traditional rules of the legal affairs committee of the revisionist Association of German Nobility (Deutscher Adelsrechtsausschuß), which considers Albert Prinz von Thurn und Taxis the 12th Prince of Thurn and Taxis.

In 2001, she was severely criticized for stating in a talkshow that the high rate of AIDS in African countries was due not to a lack of safe sex practices but to the fact that "the blacks like to copulate ('schnackseln') a lot". In 2008, she said in an interview that Africans have a lot of sex because of Africa's higher temperatures.

Gloria has become a successful artist, focusing mainly on portraits done with oil paint and pastel. The Hotel Chelsea asked her to do a series of pastels of its most famous denizens— a gallery show which brought her much acclaim as a painter.

Styles

Since former hereditary titles are only recognised in German law as part of the surname in accordance with the Weimar Constitution of 1919, family members include the title as an integral part of their name in the form, Prinz/essin von Thurn und Taxis. The following are merely styles, not titles, under obsolete conventions.

• 23 February 1960 - 30 May 1980: Her Illustrious Highness Countess Gloria of Schönburg-Glauchau
• 30 May 1980 - 14 December 1990: Her Serene Highness Gloria, Princess of Thurn and Taxis
• 14 December 1990 - Present: Her Serene Highness Gloria, Dowager Princess of Thurn and Taxis

Honours

Dynastic honour

• House of Thurn und Taxis: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Parfaite Amitié

National honours

•  Germany: Officer of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
  •  Bavaria: Commander of the Bavarian Order of Merit

Foreign honours

• Austrian Imperial and Royal Family: Dame of the Imperial and Royal Order of the Starry Cross, 1st Class
•  Holy See: Dame Grand Officer of the Order of St. Gregory the Great
•  Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Dame Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta

• Unsere Umgangsformen. Die Welt der guten Sitten von A-Z - with Princess Alessandra Borghese - (2000).ISBN 9783806875799
• Gloria: Die Fürstin - Im Gespräch mit Peter Seewald (2005). ISBN 9783453380004
• Die Fürstin und der Kardinal - with Cardinal Joachim Meisner - (2008).ISBN 9783451298714