Marie von Thurn und Taxis (1855–1934)

Marie von Thurn und Taxis was born Princess Marie Elisabeth Karoline zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst in Venice, Italy to an aristocratic German family. She received a rigorous cultural education and was fluent in six languages. In 1876, she married Prince Alexander von Thurn und Taxis, with whom she had three children. Princess Marie collected works of art, cultivated friendships with artists, and ran an exclusive salon in Paris. Among her circle were museum specialist Wilhelm von Bode, actress Eleonora Duse, dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, poet Anna de Noailles, and philosopher Rudolf Kassner. In 1909, Princess Marie met poet Rainer Maria Rilke and he went to stay in her castle in Lautschin, Bohemia (Czechoslovakia). She became his patron and took educational trips to Weimar, Germany with him. Rilke dedicated his Duino Elegies to her while he was staying at her castle in Duino, Italy on the Adriatic coast in 1911-1912. After Rilke's death, she published a 1932 memoir of their friendship, which was translated into numerous languages. She also published From the Emperor Huang-Li: Fairy Tales for Grown-up Children (1922).