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Albert II (born 24 June 1983 in Regensburg) is the twelfth Prince (Fürst) of Thurn und Taxis [1]. The house's website describes him as head of the princely house [1]. Thurn und Taxis is one of the German houses whose genealogy the Almanach de Gotha printed among the mediatized houses; see the House of Thurn und Taxis and GOTHA's guide to the mediatized houses. This page uses only the information published by the princely house on thurnundtaxis.de.
Education
According to the house, he attended the Pindl private Gymnasium in Regensburg from 1993 to 1998 and the German School in Rome from 1998 to 2003, where he took his Abitur [1]. From 2004 to 2008 he studied economics and theology at the University of Edinburgh, graduating Master of Arts, and from 2008 to 2010 he trained as a Chartered Financial Analyst in Zurich [1]. He then studied philosophy at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome, completing a doctorate in 2022 [1].
Head of the house
His father, Prince Johannes, died in 1990; the house's page on Princess Gloria states that she has led the princely house since then [2]. The page on Prince Albert states that, as head of the princely house, he holds (Inhaber) the Thurn und Taxis house order De Parfaite Amitié, which he last conferred in 2010 [1]. The house also lists his admission to several orders between 2005 and 2010, including the Royal Bavarian House Order of Saint George (2005) and, as an honorary knight, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (2010) [1].
Note on sources. The two pages of the house's website describe the leadership of the house differently: one names Prince Albert as head of the princely house [1], while the other says Princess Gloria has led it since 1990 [2]. GOTHA reports both statements and does not decide between them.
The family's heritage
The house traces the family to the Torriani of Milan and dates the name "Thurn und Taxis" to 1650 [3]. Franz von Taxis set up the courier service between Innsbruck and Brussels in 1490, the foundation of the Imperial Post, and the family was raised to the rank of Imperial Prince in 1695 [3]. From 1748 three Princes of Thurn und Taxis served as the Emperor's Principal Commissioner at the Perpetual Diet in Regensburg, which brought the family to the city [3]. The house notes that the soup kitchen founded by Prince Albert I after the First World War still provides up to 250 free hot meals a day under his great-grandson, Albert II [3].
Licence: this article is original GOTHA text, released under CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Its sources are summarised or briefly quoted.