...was born in Stuttgart in 1960. Princess Gloria took charge of running the Princely House in 1990...

Biography

Princess Mariae Gloria was born in Stuttgart on 23 February 1960 as the younger daughter of Count Joachim von Schönburg-Glauchau and Countess Beatrix, née Countess Szechenyi von Sarvar und Felsövidek. She spent many years of her childhood in Africa. On 31 May 1980, she married Johannes Baptista, Prince of Thurn und Taxis in Regensburg. The couple was blessed with three children: Princess Maria Theresia (born 1980), Princess Elisabeth (born 1982) and Prince Albert (born 1983).

Princess Gloria has been the head of the Princely House since the death of her husband in 1990. The Thurn und Taxis group of companies was restructured and became significantly more profitable under her leadership. This enabled her to continue some of the main concerns, namely preserving and maintaining the extensive cultural heritage as well as cultural and social commitment, including free food for the needy in the soup kitchen and financial support for students of the liberal arts.

Another aim of her work is to make St Emmeram Palace in Regensburg and its several hundred rooms accessible to a wider audience and to generate fresh sources of income for the palace as a means of ensuring its ongoing maintenance. For instance, the Princely Museums (the Medieval Cloister, the State Rooms of the Palace and the Stables with its collection of carriages) occupy a special place among the German museums. The majestic palace rooms, the riding hall and the refectory also provide a magnificent setting for a wide variety of events such as conferences, large functions, exhibitions and concerts.

Commitment

An important focus of her commitment is to preserve and maintain the great cultural heritage of the House of Thurn und Taxis. The Thurn und Taxis Palace Festival, the Christmas Market and the Treasury as a new museum area are all the results of her efforts. They have attracted a steady stream of enthusiastic new visitors to St. Emmeram Palace.

St. Mary’s Women's Congregation was re-established 2006 in Regensburg on the initiative of Princess Gloria. Among her concerns is protecting the sanctity of life, which is why she supports Stiftung Ja zum Leben and is committed to dignified end-of-life care according to Christian doctrine through the Bayerische Stiftung Hospiz. Princess Gloria was admitted to the Order of the Knights of Malta In 2009. Pope Benedict XVI made her a member of the Pontifical Order of St. Gregory the Great in 2010. In 2006 she received the Cross of Merit, 1st Class. Bavarian Minister-President Horst Seehofer awarded her the Bavarian Order of Merit for her social commitment in 2014, and in 2019 she received the highest Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary.