, title = Prince of Thurn and Taxis , image = MKvTuT.jpg , caption = , reign = 15 July 1827 – 10 November 1871 , reign-type = Period , coronation = , predecessor = Karl Alexander , successor = Maximilian Maria , succession = Head of the House of Thurn and Taxis , spouse = Baroness Wilhelmine of Dörnberg
Princess Mathilde Sophie of Oettingen-Oettingen and Oettingen-Spielberg , issue = Prince Karl Wilhelm
Princess Therese Mathilde

Maximilian Anton, Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis , title = Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis , image = Maximilian Anton Lamoral, Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis.jpg , caption = , reign = , reign-type = , coronation = , predecessor = , successor = ...

Prince Egon
Prince Theodor
Prince Otto
Prince Georg
Prince Paul
Princess Amalie
Prince Hugo
Prince Gustav
Prince Wilhelm
Prince Adolf
Prince Franz
Prince Nikolaus
Prince Alfred
Princess Marie Georgine , house =

Thurn and Taxis The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis (german: link=no, 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 e ...

, father =

Karl Alexander, 5th Prince of Thurn and Taxis , title = Prince of Thurn and Taxis , image = Karl Alexander von Thurn und Taxis.jpg , caption = , reign = 13 November 1805 – 15 July 1827 , reign-type = Period , coronation = , predecessor = ...

, mother =

Duchess Therese of Mecklenburg-Strelitz , image = Theresa of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.jpg , caption = , reign = 25 May 1789 – 15 July 1827 , coronation = , succession = Princess consort of Thurn and Taxis , spouse = , issue = Princess Charlotte ...

, birth_date = , birth_place = Regensburg,

Electorate of Bavaria The Electorate of Bavaria (german: Kurfürstentum Bayern) was an independent hereditary electorate of the Holy Roman Empire from 1623 to 1806, when it was succeeded by the Kingdom of Bavaria. The Wittelsbach dynasty which ruled the Duchy of Ba ...

Kingdom of Germany The Kingdom of Germany or German Kingdom ( la, regnum Teutonicorum "kingdom of the Germans", "German kingdom", "kingdom of Germany") was the mostly Germanic-speaking East Frankish kingdom, which was formed by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, especi ...

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

, death_date = , death_place = Regensburg,

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German ...

, burial_place = Gruftkapelle,

Saint Emmeram's Abbey Saint Emmeram's Abbey (german: Kloster Sankt Emmeram or ''Reichsabtei Sankt Emmeram''), now known as Schloss Thurn und Taxis, Schloss St. Emmeram or St. Emmeram's Basilica, was a Benedictine monastery founded in about 739 at Regensburg in Bavari ...

, Regensburg , religion = Roman Catholic Maximilian Karl, 6th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, full German name: ''Maximilian Karl Fürst von Thurn und Taxis'' (3 November 1802 – 10 November 1871) was the sixth Prince of Thurn and Taxis, head of the Thurn-und-Taxis-Post, and Head of the Princely House of Thurn and Taxis from 15 July 1827 until his death on 10 November 1871.

Early life, education, and military career

Maximilian Karl was the fourth child of

and his wife

, sister of

Queen Louise of Prussia Duchess Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Luise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie; 10 March 1776 – 19 July 1810) was Queen of Prussia as the wife of King Frederick William III. The couple's happy, though short-lived, marriage produced nine child ...

. He was born on 3 November 1802 in the so-called Inner Palace of St. Emmeram's Abbey. At the age of nine, Maximilian Karl became Under Lieutenant in Bayer's Fourth Bayerrischen Cheveaulegers-Regiment König. After four years of education at Bildungsinstitut Hofwyl, a Swiss educational institution, he joined the

Bavarian army The Bavarian Army was the army of the Electorate (1682–1806) and then Kingdom (1806–1919) of Bavaria. It existed from 1682 as the standing army of Bavaria until the merger of the military sovereignty (''Wehrhoheit'') of Bavaria into that of ...

on 25 August 1822. After the death of his father in 1827, Maximilian Karl asked for his dismissal from the army. Afterwards, he continued with his new role as head of the House of Thurn and Taxis, with the advisement and support of his mother.

Marriage and family

Maximilian Karl married Baroness Wilhelmine of Dörnberg, daughter of Ernst, Baron of Dörnberg and his wife Baroness Wilhelmine Henriette Maximiliane of

Glauburg Glauburg is a municipality in the Wetteraukreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located approximately 33 kilometers northeast of Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most popul ...

, on 24 August 1828 in Regensburg. Maximilian Karl and Wilhelmine had five children: *Prince Karl Wilhelm of Thurn and Taxis (14 April 1829 – 21 July 1829) *Princess Therese Mathilde of Thurn and Taxis (31 August 1830 – 10 September 1883) *

Maximilian Anton Lamoral, Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis , title = Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis , image = Maximilian Anton Lamoral, Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis.jpg , caption = , reign = , reign-type = , coronation = , predecessor = , successor = ...

(28 September 1831 – 26 June 1867) *Prince Egon of Thurn and Taxis (17 November 1832 – 8 February 1892) *Prince Theodor of Thurn and Taxis (9 February 1834 – 1 March 1876) In their seventh year of marriage, Wilhelmine died at the age of 32. Maximilian Karl mourned her death greatly and constructed the

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

mausoleum at St. Emmeram's Abbey for her. Maximilian Karl married secondly to Princess Mathilde Sophie of Oettingen-Oettingen and Oettingen-Spielberg, daughter of Johannes Aloysius III, Prince of

Oettingen-Oettingen The House of Oettingen was a high-rank noble Franconian and Swabian family. It ruled various estates that composed the County of Oettingen between the 12th century and the beginning of the 19th century. In 1674 the house was raised to the rank of ...

and

Oettingen-Spielberg The House of Oettingen was a high-rank noble Franconian and Swabian family. It ruled various estates that composed the County of Oettingen between the 12th century and the beginning of the 19th century. In 1674 the house was raised to the rank of p ...

and his wife Princess Amalie Auguste of

Wrede Wrede is a surname that includes two different noble families, the German princely one and Finnish-Swede noble family "von Wrede" that originated from Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern ...

, on 24 January 1839 in

Oettingen in Bayern Oettingen in Bayern (Swabian: ''Eadi'') is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is situated northwest of Donauwörth, and northeast of Nördlingen. Geography The town is located on the river Wörnitz, a tributary ...

. Maximilian Karl and Mathilde Sophie had twelve children: *Prince Otto of Thurn and Taxis (28 May 1840 – 6 July 1876) *Prince Georg of Thurn and Taxis (11 July 1841 – 22 December 1874) *

Prince Paul of Thurn and Taxis , caption = Created Herr von Fels by King Ludwig II on 19 June 1868 , image = Paul von Thurn und Taxis 24 Jan 1864.jpg , spouse = , issue = Heinrich von Fels (1867–1955) , house =Thurn and Taxis , father ...

(27 May 1843 – 10 March 1879) *Princess Amalie of Thurn and Taxis (12 May 1844 – 12 February 1867) *Prince Hugo of Thurn and Taxis (24 November 1845 – 15 May 1873) *

Prince Gustav of Thurn and Taxis , image = , caption = , reign = , coronation = , predecessor = , successor = , succession = , spouse = , issue = , house =Thurn und Taxis , father = Prince Franz of Thurn ...

(23 February 1848 – 9 July 1914) *Prince Wilhelm of Thurn and Taxis (20 February 1849 – 11 December 1849) *Prince Adolf of Thurn and Taxis (26 May 1850 – 3 January 1890) *Prince Franz of Thurn and Taxis (2 March 1852 – 4 May 1897) *Prince Nikolaus of Thurn and Taxis (2 August 1853 – 26 May 1874) *Prince Alfred of Thurn and Taxis (11 June 1856 – 9 February 1886) *Princess Marie Georgine of Thurn and Taxis (25 December 1857 – 13 February 1909) In 1843, Maximilian Karl and his family moved to the newly constructed princely castle of the Thurn and Taxis family in

Donaustauf Donaustauf is a market town in Bavaria, east of Regensburg at the foothills of the Bavarian Forest. The ruins of a medieval castle, presumably erected between 914 and 930, tower above the small town. Situated nearby on a hill rising from the D ...

, which was completed in the same year as the nearby Walhalla. The castle Donaustauf was completely destroyed during a blaze on 4 March 1880.

Postal career

In 1827, Maximilian Karl was his father's successor as head of the private Thurn-und-Taxis-Post which had its headquarters in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. With the annexation of the Free City of Frankfurt by the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

in 1866 and the forced sale of Thurn-und-Taxis-Post for three million

Thalers A thaler (; also taler, from german: Taler) is one of the large silver coins minted in the states and territories of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy during the Early Modern period. A ''thaler'' size silver coin has a diameter of ...

ended the era of the Thurn and Taxis family's postal monopoly. The handover took place on 1 July 1867.

Orders and decorations

: Knight of the Black Eagle, ''23 August 1851''''Liste der Ritter des Königlich Preußischen Hohen Ordens vom Schwarzen Adler'' (1851), "Von Seiner Majestät dem Könige Friedrich Wilhelm IV. ernannte Ritter
p. 24
/ref>

Ancestry

References

*Martin Dallmeier / Martha Schad: ''The Princely House of Thurn und Taxis'', Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg, Germany 1996 .

External links

, - ! colspan="3" style="background: #bebebe; color: #000000" , Postal offices {{DEFAULTSORT:Maximilian Karl Of Thurn And Taxis, Prince 1802 births 1871 deaths People from Regensburg Hereditary Princes of Thurn and Taxis German landowners German Roman Catholics Members of the Bavarian Reichsrat Members of the Prussian House of Lords Knights of the Golden Fleece of Austria Members of the Württembergian Chamber of Lords Burials at the Gruftkapelle, St. Emmeram's Abbey Military personnel of Bavaria