Czech branch of the House of Thurn and Taxis

Descendants of the House of Thurn und Taxis in Bohemia, a family that played an important role in Czech national culture and local history for 140 years, are today dispersed around the world.

She belonged to a Czech noble family whose origin can be traced back to Mares Martin z Ujezda (1376–90).

[1] In 1808, he inherited Lautschin (Loučeň in Czech) and Dobrovice castles from his cousin Princess Maria Josefa von Fürstenberg (1756-1809), and in 1820 permanently settled in Bohemia.

Aided by writer and historian Karel Jaromír Erben, he also contributed vocabulary to Czech legal terminology.

Marie's protégé Rainer Maria Rilke used to visit the family at their castles Lautschin and Duino.

Besides Rilke, regular guests at the castle in Lautschin included Karel Sladkovský and Bedřich Smetana who in 1880 dedicated his composition Z domoviny for violin and piano to Alexander.

[10] When his son Prince Erich, who studied in Cambridge, brought to Lautschin a new game, he helped him establish the first football team in Bohemia (1889).

The match took place at the famous Císařská louka in Prague on 18 April 1893 and ended with the Thurn Taxis team losing 0:5.

In 1923 Prince Alexander left the dynastic House of Thurn und Taxis to become the first Duca di Castel Duino by grant of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy.

Alexander's sons Raimundo and Luigi joined their father and were recognized in Italy as Princes della Torre e Tasso.