Gloria, Princess of Thurn and Taxis (Mariae Gloria Prinzessin von Thurn und Taxis, born Mariae Gloria Ferdinanda Joachima Josephine Wilhelmine Huberta Countess 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 Countess Beatrix Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék. Her brother, Alexander, Count of Schönburg-Glauchau, is a best selling 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 Lourdes, France from which she emerged a sobered Roman Catholic activist and philanthropist.

The couple had three children:

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.

...
Wikipedia