Thurn und Taxis Jewellery

[His Lordship]

From what I hear Gloria is not well liked around Europe and is well known for the frenetic and unroyal lifestyle from her younger years. The prince had to marry to produce an heir, that is why they married. He, um, had other interests which did not include women. But, to each his own and it is nothing new in royal circles to marry only to continue the royal line.

To this day, not too many are fond of her and her excessive and somewhat bizarre lifestyle choices.

[Warren]

Originally Posted by His Lordship

To this day, not too many are fond of her and her excessive and somewhat bizarre lifestyle choices.

I think you'll find that since the death of Prince Johannes Gloria has re-invented herself as an astute businesswoman, reorganiser and preserver of the family fortune, loving mother, and devout Catholic.

It's a long time since Princess Gloria was criticised for any "lifestyle choices", and this criticism was based on her "outrageous" hairstyles and the fact she liked to ride a motorbike. Very superficial criticisms, I think.

She has preserved the long-time Thurn und Taxis family tradition of providing a daily soup kitchen at St Emmerams for the poor of Regensburg. See this week's Point de Vue for a story on her assisting the pilgrims at Lourdes.

Perhaps Prince Johannes has had the last laugh. His marriage to the young Gloria was designed to provide an heir; she has done much more than that. Maybe he saw the underlying brains and steel in her character which were not obvious to outside observers, but came to the fore following the untimely death of her husband.

When the pressure was on, with her husband's business empire falling apart, Gloria rose to the challenge, and has surprised everyone.
.

[Idriel]

Originally Posted by His Lordship

From what I hear Gloria is not well liked around Europe. The prince had to marry to produce an heir, that is why they married. He, um, had other interests which did not include women.

In addition to what Warren said, I must say that the prince did not marry Gloria only for a heir. He was notoriously homosexual, OK, but to all accounts (from those who new them), they were the perfect match. The prince was a very difficult man with a wicked and cruel sense of humour. Just one anecdote: One day he was invited to a friend's birthday party. This friend liked exotic fishes very much, it was her passion. She had an aquarium full of very expensive, rare and beautiful fishes. So the prince arrive an his present turn out to be... an exotic fish. The fish is ugly but the friend is polite and places her present in the aquarium with the others. After the dinner the lady go check how the new fish is doing . The other guests hear a huge Boom: the lady just collapsed realising that all her luxury fishes has been eaten but the ugly one. The prince had offered a Pyranha...
After his marriage with Gloria, he calm down a lot. Friends say he found his master. She brought peace to his life and they were in love in there fashion, I think.
About Gloria, she is not particularly loved or hated. She just made a fool of herself few years ago with ludicrous comments on AIDS, but apart from that, she did nothing to be disliked (apart by hairdressers at a time of her life )

[reynard]

Originally Posted by Warren

I think you'll find that since the death of Prince Johannes Gloria has re-invented herself as an astute businesswoman, reorganiser and preserver of the family fortune, loving mother, and devout Catholic.

It's a long time since Princess Gloria was criticised for any "lifestyle choices", and this criticism was based on her "outrageous" hairstyles and the fact she liked to ride a motorbike. Very superficial criticisms, I think.

She has preserved the long-time Thurn und Taxis family tradition of providing a daily soup kitchen at St Emmerams for the poor of Regensburg. See this week's Point de Vue for a story on her assisting the pilgrims at Lourdes.

Perhaps Prince Johannes has had the last laugh. His marriage to the young Gloria was designed to provide an heir; she has done much more than that. Maybe he saw the underlying brains and steel in her character which were not obvious to outside observers, but came to the fore following the untimely death of her husband.

When the pressure was on, with her husband's business empire falling apart, Gloria rose to the challenge, and has surprised everyone.
.

Well Said. I think people need to look beyond what the press says!

[Elspeth]

The pearl and diamond tiara has found its way back to France, hasn't it? I think I saw an article about an exhibition of French royal jewellery at the Louvre, and it had a prominent place in the exhibition.

[msfroyste]

yup, i believe, the louvre bought the paure from gloria during an auction she had after johannes' death.

[brnbg68]

Originally Posted by msfroyste

yup, i believe, the louvre bought the paure from gloria during an auction she had after johannes' death.

yes, you're quite correct. the tiara now rests in the Louvre museum in Paris.

[hillary_nugent]

wow the jewels are amazing!!! great pics! are all the jewels of French Crown's collection scattered around the world? it'd be cool to put the collection back together for display or something ^__^

[EmpressRouge]

Here's a link to a picture of the pearl tiara on display w/ other royal/imperial french jewels at the Louvre. I posted in the Favorite Tiaras thread. A friend of mine took it when was we went to Paris. I was so pissed when I realized I had missed such an interesting and important royal treasure.
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...hmentid=139756

[qui mal y pense]

Does anyone know the provenance of the other tiaras pictured at the beginning of this thread?

[Prince of Chota]

I think we need to be careful to make the distinction between royal families, like those of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, etc (as well as their non-ruling counterparts), and noble families such as the Thurn und Taxis. Because the head of the house is the Fuerst, this makes the family a Fuerstenhaus (roughly equivalent to a princely family). Yes, they were fabulously wealthy, would have qualified as part of the Uradel (old nobility), and had landholdings in several parts of Europe, but they did not rank the same as royal families. In the Holy Roman Empire (from whence the T&T gained their monopoly), they would have ranked below the electors and many dukes. Ranking below them would be more minor princes, all comital titles, and barons.

I'm afriad that I have to disagree with some of the things that hrhcp has alluded to on the previous page. Although I commend Fuerstin Gloria's support of the arts, there is clearly a reason why her over-the-top jet-set lifestyle attracted so much attention. Even by royal standards, it was a bit excessive and shameless (part of me really loves that). I also will not make any attempt to defend the behaviour of her husband, the Fuerst Johannes, but I will say that they both shared equally in the hedonistic lifestyle. I think that Grafin Gloria gained a lot in her marriage to the aging Fuerst, and I can understand why many people would have interpreted her as a gold digger.

I personally believe that there is a sort of fall-out when royal and noble families lose their legal status as such (the "Fuerst" von Thurn und Taxis only excercises the role as Head of the House, not any sort of ruling Fuerst). Long accustomed to lavish lifestyles accompanied by duties to the state, I think that many royals and nobles sunk into very unbalanced lifestyles once they were unable to perform their socio-political duties. By unbalanced, I am referring to the fact that party princes like Johannes and Gloria in the 1980s lived in such a way that it was as if they forgot the source of their fabulous wealth--the state (and ultimately its citizens). This, in my opinion, is one of the greatest psychological problems caused by the abolition of monarchy and the noble system.

[PreDoc]

Originally Posted by Prince of Chota

party princes like Johannes and Gloria in the 1980s lived in such a way that it was as if they forgot the source of their fabulous wealth--the state (and ultimately its citizens). This, in my opinion, is one of the greatest psychological problems caused by the abolition of monarchy and the noble system.

That seems to be an unusual and provocative opinion. Thank you Chota!

[joon112]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but in the set of pictures posted by brnbg68, isn't the first picture actually Gloria in fancy dress?

[Warren]

Originally Posted by joon112

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but in the set of pictures posted by brnbg68, isn't the first picture actually Gloria in fancy dress?

Yes, the first pic in post #26 is Gloria. The swathes of 'pearls' are interesting. One side is ropes of pearls, the other side is ropes of diamonds. (!!)

[Prince of Chota]

I'm going to have to contest that. That is indeed the Archduchess Margaretha. However, the reason for the confusion is that Fuerstin Gloria wore a very similar dress with many of the same jewels for her husband's birthday costume party in 1986, and was famously photographed that way. However, the dress and the hair, while of the same period style, are different. It was the second and last time that Gloria wore the Second Empire Pearl Tiara, and she also wore the Thurn und Taxis Pearl brooch as a stomacher, securing the T&T Four Riviere Diamond Necklace on the left, and pearls on the right. I think the intention was to copy the look of the Fuerstin Margarethe. I'll see if I can get some pictures of Fuerstin Gloria in her eighteenth century costume, and post them for comparison.

[Prince of Chota]

Here is a photo of Gloria in her eighteenth-century costume:
http://files.tagworld.com/93ca3850a2...4105cabeec.bmp

And here is a photo of the Thurn und Taxis Four Riviere diamond necklace, which is swagged on the left side of Fuerstin Gloria's costume in the first photo (it was auctioned after Fuerst Johannes' death)
http://files.tagworld.com/6cb2f40312...7f7870631.jpeg

And here is another picture of the costume:
http://files.tagworld.com/7d12e93892...82be57884.jpeg

Note the differences in costume, especially the sleeves, which are puffy in the photo of Archduchess Margaretha (as was the style in the late nineteenth century). Fuerstin Gloria's sleeves are not, and the design of the dress is slightly simpler, although all the jewels are worn in the same way.

And here is the brooch that both Gloria and Margaretha are wearing, to which the Four Riviere necklace and pearls are attached:
http://files.tagworld.com/2a5ca7f9f4...a51f0911b.jpeg

It was also part of the auctioned jewels, as well as another, very similar, diamond brooch.

[joon112]

Yes, I can certainly now see the difference when photos are compared. I think that Gloria bears an uncanny likeness to Margaretha in that first photograph though. What about those jewels? I'll have the tiara thanks!!!:)

[Warren]

Here's two links to some pics of a very bejewelled Princess Gloria:

Diamonds and emeralds

As Marie Antoinette (diamonds one side, pearls the other)

[MARG]

Originally Posted by Warren

Here's two links to some pics of a very bejewelled Princess Gloria:

Diamonds and emeralds

As Marie Antoinette (diamonds one side, pearls the other)

Is this jewelery still in the family or was it sold off?

[HRH Mims]

http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...6&d=1122252420- wonderful, wonderful piece of jewelry!