Gloria, Princess von Thurn und Taxis (born Maria Gloria Ferdinanda Gerda Charlotte Teutonia Franziska Magarethe Frederike Simone Johanna Joachima Josefine Wilhelmine Huberta Countess of Schönburg in Glauchau and Waldenburg; 23 February 1960, Stuttgart), presently the widow of Johannes, 11th Prince von Thurn und Taxis. The House of Thurn und Taxis is one of the oldest, richest, and most prestigious of the German princely families. Gloria married the bisexual Prince, more than thirty years her senior, in 1980 and spent the next decade - until his death, after two unsuccessful heart transplants - producing three children as well as endless media coverage for her outlandish appearance and behavior, and the couple's jet-setting haute bohème lifestyle. At his death, the Prince left an estate some five-hundred million dollars in debt, and the Princess quickly adopted a more sober lifestyle and worked to (successfully) right the family's financial situation.
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| If you're going for "impact" when forming your toilette, how convenient to have your own enormous historic family jewels. The Thurn und Taxis family possessed one of the richest and most ostentatious private jewelry collections in the world. (It is distinctly less rich now, since the Princess was forced to auction a large part of the collection in 1992 in order to help manage debt left at her husband's death.) |
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| It was the 80s, folks! |
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Photographs by Ron Galella.
Princess TNT...oh god...be still my heart! This made my day.
ReplyDeletewow -those are some jewels. The 80s might have had a lot of bad things happen, but I loved the sense of fun and glamorous fashion that is sorely missing today!
ReplyDeleteGlorious Gloria.
ReplyDelete