They are (were?) one of the richest royal families in Europe. About 300 to 400 years ago, they got the concession from (?) to carry the mail between various cities in Europe, for I believe an unlimited length of time. It did end, and I gather they did get a payout, but have never been able to ascertain the extent of the payout. It must have been handsome.hillary_nugent said:
Ruggiano de Tassis (Franz von Taxis) founded the postal service in Italy. In Innsbruck, in 1489, Jeannetto de Tassis (Taxis) was appointed Chief Master of Postal Services, and the family held its exclusive position for centuries. In 1516, the Thurn und Taxis family had a postal service based in Brussels reaching to Rome, Naples, Spain, Germany and France by courier. The Thurn und Taxis company lasted until the 18th century, when the postal service was finally bought by the heir to the Spanish throne.hrhcp said:
THe last Prince married a much younger lady, countess Gloria. In the 80's she was known as the "Punk Princess". She would wear fabulous tiaras and jewels with punk, spiked, painted hair. She settled down a lot, especially after her husbands death. Their young son inherited a huge fortune, but his father must have had a lot of debts (I guess the wealth was all tied up in industry, etc.) So Gloria rolled up her sleeves and sold off some of the family heirlooms. Personally, I would have sold one of their MANY castles (prince Phillip is said to have jokingly complained about how FEW homes the queen had compared to the Thurn und Taxis family).Reina said:
I gather house rules stipulated that he had to marry an aristo, and she was young enough to be his daughter or granddaughter when they married. The old prince (Johannes?) had a reputation of swinging DC, so he had a bit of hard time to find some-one who would say yes. She came from an impoverished aristo family, so .....reynard said:
Anything to dispell a myth or two.
The taint was gone. Sorry that I am so snippy, but I prefer the "real story".
that he did. Hope he hasn't inherited the vices genes from the men's side of his family.
actually it had to be sold off to pay off the death tax, which is still present in Germany.
From worldroots.com:reynard said:
Like many old Princely and aristocratic families, they were rich in assets.
EmpressRouge said:
The Thurn und Taxis aren't the only family with lots of property.sara1981 said:
His Lordship said:
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...His Lordship said:
)
Warren said:
