Albert
Prince of Thurn and Taxis
Albert Maria Joseph Maximilian Lamoral, 8th Prince of Thurn and Taxis (full German name: Albert Maria Joseph Maximilian Lamoral Fürst von Thurn und Taxis; 8 May 1867 – 22 January 1952) was the eighth Prince of Thurn and Taxis and Head of the Princely House of Thurn and Taxis from 2 June 1885 until his death. Albert was born at Regensburg, Germany, the youngest of four children of Maximilian Anton Lamoral, Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis (1831–1867) and Duchess Helene in Bavaria (1834–1890). His father died when he was less than two months old, so on the death of his grandfather, Maximilian Karl, 6th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, his older brother Maximilian Maria, 7th Prince of Thurn and Taxis became Prince, under the guardianship of his mother who was regent until he should come of age. Prince Albert spent his childhood with his mother and three siblings in Prüfening Abbey, in Bismarckplatz, Regensburg. As was then typical for the aristocracy, he received a non-specific education, attending lectures in law, national economics and art history in Würzburg, Freiburg and Leipzig. On his brother's untimely death, aged 22, Prince Albert, then aged 18, inherited his brother's title, also under the guardianship of his mother as regent. At the time, his full title was Prince of Thurn and Taxis, Prince of Buchau und Prince of Krotoszyn, royal Count of Friedberg-Scheer, Count of Valle-Sassina, and of Marchtal, Neresheim etc., Hereditary general postmaster. In 1899 he acquired the additional
Bavarian royal titles of Duke of Wörth und Donaustauf. He came of age on 8 May 1888 as full prince, head of the family of Thurn and Taxis. At the time of his succession, Prince Albert had not yet married. On 15 July 1890 in Budapest, Hungary, Albert married Archduchess Margarethe Klementine of Austria (6 July 1870 – 2 May 1955), daughter of Archduke Joseph Karl of Austria. Albert purchased the 'Empress Eugenie Tiara' as a wedding present for Margarethe; the tiara, designed by Gabriel Lemmonier in 1853, was part of the French crown jewels and is now in the Louvre in Paris. They were married by the archbishop of Esztergom–Budapest, the Roman Catholic primate of Hungary, Cardinal János Simor in the chapel of Buda Castle. His marriage to Archduchess Margarethe lasted over 60 years, producing seven sons and a daughter.
Hartschiere (singular form: Hartschier) were predominantly members of the Bavarian residence guards before 1918, a historic military branch of the former Duchy and the later Electorate and at last Kingdom of Bavaria. According to Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, the Germanized word Hartschier originally derived from the Italian word arciere for archer, but it might also be possible that it has Spanish roots, because the Bavarian Duke William IV received a Spanish archer company (Spanish: arqueros) of Charles I of Spain and added Bavarian court bodyguards with notable roots in the deep Middle Ages. On April 13, 1669, Ferdinand Maria transformed this unit to the Hartschier-Garde. The name of the former Austrian equivalent, the k.k. Arcièren-Leibgarde, is similar-sounding. The Bavarian palace guard troop, later called Königlich-Bayerische Leibgarde der Hartschier (L.G.H.), had only ceremonial and no conventional military functions. Relating to military affairs, the Command of the Leibgarde der Hartschiere was directly subordinated to the Army Ministry. By contrast the Leibgarde der Hartschiere by itself was subordinated, concerning civilian and criminal justiciable affairs, to the General Command in Munich like the other military branches. In addition to the Hartschiere, the kings of Bavaria had a royal house regiment from the end of the Napoleonic Wars until the fall of the kingdom after World War I, the so-called Infantry Lifeguards Regiment. Entrance to this Guard was only possible for soldiers of impeccable character and conduct. The commander of the Hartschier troop had the title Generalkapitän (see also Captain General), associated with the highest class ranking in the Hofrangordnung (court order of precedence). He was appointed personally by the king.
The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis (German: Fürstenhaus Thurn und Taxis) is a family of German nobility that is part of the Briefadel. It was a key player in the postal services in Europe during the 16th century, until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, and became well known as the owner of breweries and commissioner of several castles. The family has resided in Regensburg since 1748 and have been staying at St. Emmeram Castle from 1803. The family is one of the wealthiest in Germany. They are one of the mediatised Houses for their former Sovereign Imperial counties, later mediatised to Kingdom of Wurttemberg (Principality of Buchau, now Bad Buchau), Kingdom of Bavaria and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. The Tasso family (from the Italian word for "badger", the family's heraldic animal) was a Lombard family in the area of Bergamo. The earliest records place them in Almenno in the Val Brembana around 1200, before they fled to the more distant village of Cornello to escape feuding between Bergamo's Colleoni (Guelf) and Suardi (Ghibelline) families. Around 1290, after Milan had conquered
Bergamo, Omodeo Tasso organized 32 of his relatives into the Company of Couriers (Compagnia dei Corrieri) and linked Milan with Venice and Rome. The recipient of royal and papal patronage, his post riders were so comparatively efficient that they became known as bergamaschi throughout Italy. The family operated the Thurn-und-Taxis Post, successor to the Imperial Reichspost of the Holy Roman Empire, between 1806 and 1867. Their postal service was gradually lost over the centuries, with the Spanish network being bought by the crown in the 18th century and the German post being purchased by Prussia after the fall of the Free City of Frankfurt in 1866. By investing their earnings from the postal business - later also the settlements for the postal rights - in numerous landed estates, a large number of forests and farms as well as castles were added to the family property, especially from secularized church property, among them Buchau Abbey, Marchtal Abbey, Neresheim Abbey, Ennetach Abbey, Siessen Abbey, and others. In 1803 they were summarized as Imperial Principality of Buchau. The buildings of these monasteries were mostly re-donated to the church in the 20th century, but the lands continue to be cultivated by the princely administration. Besides the St Emmeram's Palace the current prince still owns Taxis Castle (Trugenhofen) and Garatshausen Castle at Feldafing on Lake Starnberg.
Awards: Insignia and sash of the Order of Parfaite Amitié, Collar of the Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece, Stars of the Order of the Crown (Belgium), the House Order of Albert the Bear and the Royal Order of Saint Hubert.
