In 1985, Vanity Fair described Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, a member of the German aristocracy, as “a wild version of her friend,” Princess Diana. Known in the tabloids as “Princess TNT,” she hosted royalty and celebrities such as Andy Warhol and Mick Jagger and was photographed endlessly sporting towering, technicolored hair and dresses reminiscent of disco balls.
Now, she hangs out with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito.
Also: Steve Bannon, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and German AfD politician Maximilian Krah, who recently got in trouble for saying some Waffen-SS officers maybe weren’t so bad.
The aristiocratic partygoer, who once described herself as a socialist, has evolved into an influential Catholic conservative, crusading against abortion and bemoaning Europe’s declining birth rates.
And so, when the scandal-plagued Alito disclosed in September that he had in 2023 received tickets to the annual concert the princess holds at her castle, he raised more questions than he answered. The tickets, he reported, were valued at $900.
For several years, the princess has been known in Europe as a right-wing Catholic crusader — no fan of the current pope, she says, and an ally of Bannon, whom she recently described to the New York Times as a “bad boy” and something of a lovable blowhard. In April 2024, she detailed her political concerns in a conspiracy theory-tinged speech at the European National Conservatism conference, an event whose American sibling draws all manner of influencers from the MAGA fringe.
“Why is self-destruction still a human right in the West? I’m asking again, is there some kind of racism involved?” she asked of abortion. “Are we not supposed to reproduce?”
“It almost looks like the government has no interest in entrepreneurs. It looks like the government has only interest to disperse our savings to those people who come first, ideally clearly to those who spread chaos and disorder,” she said later, gesturing toward American culture war talking points. “Where is this all going to lead us? Is San Francisco the leading example?”
The event also hosted talks by right-wing nationalists including British politician Nigel Farage and Orbán, whose policies the princess praised.
In a recent interview with the New York Times, the princess described meeting Alito and his flag-enjoying wife, Martha Ann, at a Catholic conference in Rome. In 2019, the princess traveled to Washington, DC, where an anti-abortion group hosted her alongside Alito and Justice Brett Kavanaugh. She told the Times that she hoped to befriend other justices as well. Clarence Thomas is at the top of her list.
Prince Johannes and Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis
Gloria von Thurn und Taxis in her signature mohawk
Some called her ‘Princess TNT’ for her unique style
Gloria von Thurn und Taxis at a party
The Princess was known for her distinctive tiaras and hair styles
Gloria and Johannes von Thurn und Taxis
Gloria von Thurn und Taxis plays in a band
View of the Thurn and Taxis Castle
Gloria Von Thurn Und Taxis at an event for a biography of Pope Benedict XVI
Gloria von Thurn und Taxis poses with priests during the Thurn and Taxis Castle Festival
Protesters demonstrate outside the Thurn und Taxis Castle ahead of the 2023 Festival
Gloria von Thurn und Taxis attends Thurn and Taxis Castle Festival in 2023
The Thurn and Taxis Castle Festival in 2023, the event the Alitos attended
Gloria von Thurn und Taxis speaks at The National Conservatism Conference
The conference was sponsored by the Orbán-aligned Danube Institute, among other groups
The through line in all this is simple. Ignorance.
The low-IQ, poorly educated “my country first” MAGAts around the world (German, American, Russian, doesn’t matter) are exactly like the global rich assholes who hold staggering wealth. Both are insulated from actually learning anything that doesn’t affect them.
The dumbshit MAGAts have zero clue what’s going on above them and are easily manipulated by far right media because it gives them something and - more important - someone to blame for their shitty circumstances. At the other end you have clowns like this SNL character waiting to happen, Fat Hitler, Musk, etc who never had to bother caring about anything but themselves, a self-imposed narcissistic stupidity.
In the end, they both end up clueless and stupid, with the small rich group easily able to manipulate one another for their own nefarious ends while weaponizing the large dumb poor group against the rest of us.
The Princess Pious & and her kind are wonderfully revealed in these beautifully curated photographs.
I recognize this twisted Catholic subculture. Vapid old women of means wooed out out of their money by celibate charmers to fill the coffers of Holy Mother Church.
It was funnier before the fascism.
Gee I wonder if Sarah Huckajesus is still looking “the humble” among the Supremes, if so she might want to lecture Alito rather than Kamala.
Is she married and how many children does she have?
What I see in these pictures is a lifelong poser. Punk is more than just a fucking hairstyle - she was never punk.