page_title: Gloria, Princess of Thurn and Taxis
section_title: Later life
hierarchical_section_title: Gloria, Princess of Thurn and Taxis / Later life
caption_attribution_description: Wagner Festspiele Bayreuth 2015 - Kanzlerin Angela Merkel, Joachim Sauer, Gerwin Spalink und Fürstin Gloria von Thurn und Taxis
context_page_description: Gloria, Dowager Princess of Thurn and Taxis is a German socialite, businesswoman, philanthropist, Catholic activist, and artist. Through her marriage to Johannes, 11th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, she became the Princess Consort of Thurn und Taxis.
context_section_description: Gloria and her husband were known for their lavish lifestyle, becoming social and fashion icons in the 1980s. She became part of the European jet set and was referred to in the media as the "punk princess" and "Princess TNT".
  When her husband died in 1990, Gloria was left to settle his debts, which totaled at US$500 million. Her son, Albert, became the 12th Prince of Thurn and Taxis at the time of Johannes' death. She acted as the trustee for Albert, taking over management of the family estate, Saint Emmeram's Abbey. She went into isolation from society, studying finance, accounting, and estate management. She sold off family property including art, jewelry, castles, cars, and land to preserve the family fortune. During this time she undertook a spiritual pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in Lourdes, France, emerging as a sobered Roman Catholic activist and philanthropist.
  In 2001 Gloria was severely criticized for stating on a talk show 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 accompanied her sister, Maya, on pilgrimages to Lourdes and Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in Spain after Maya was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2012.
  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. She has referred to herself as a "dilettante", and cites her art collection as inspirtation for her contemporary style of portraiture. In 2015 she had a solo show at the National Exemplar Gallery in New York. She also paints freelance.
  In January 2019 the El Museo del Barrio in Manhattan decided to cancel an upcoming exhibition of Gloria's work at their 50th anniversary gala due to her right wing political stances and comments she had made about race and AIDS.
  A devout Catholic, Gloria serves 300 hot meals to the poor every day from a dedicated room in her home. She also works closely with conservative Traditionalist Catholic leaders including Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, Cardinal Raymond Burke, Wilhelm Imkamp, and Steve Bannon. Her palatial home, Schloss Thurn und Taxis was suggested by Bannon as a potential site for a school to educate and train right-wing Catholics, although no firm plans have been made.
  Gloria is a personal friend of Hillary Clinton, and was one of a dozen women to attend her 2016 birthday party.
caption: Princess Gloria with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2015.
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