Royal Profile: Countess Maya von Schönburg-Glauchau

Countess Maria-Felicitas Alexandra Albertina Assunta Anna Fernanda Beatrice von Schönburg-Glauchau  more commonly known as Countess Maya von Schönburg-Glauchau was born on 15 August 1958 as the first child of Joachim, Count of Schönburg-Glauchau and his first wife, Countess Beatrix Széchényi de Sárvár-Felsővidék{Source}. She had three younger siblings, a half-sister, several siblings-in-law,  nieces and nephews, and their children {Source}:

1. Countess Maria-Gloria Ferdinanda Joachima Josephine Wilhelmina Huberta von Schönburg-Glauchau, Princess von Thurn und Taxis (1960)
1. Johannes, 11th Prince of Thurn and Taxis (1926-1990, m. 1980-his death)
1. Princess Maria Theresia von Thurn und Taxis (1980)
1. Hugo Wilson (m. 2014)
1. Miss Mafalda Beatrix Maria Wilson (2015)
2. Miss Maya Romey Alexandra Wilson (2017)
2. Princess Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis (1982)
3. Albert II, 12th Prince of Thurn and Taxis (1983)
2. Count Carl-Alban Maria Laszio Gebhard Rudolf Johannes Georg Hubertus Kisito von Schönburg-Glauchau (1966)
1. Juliet Fowler (m. 1995)
1. Hereditary Count Hubertus Maria Joachim Nicholas Maximilian Leopold Carl Ludwig Denis  von Schönburg-Glauchau (1996)
3. Count Alexander von Schönburg-Glauchau (1969)
1. Princess Irina of Hesse (m. 1999)
1. Countess Maria-Letitia Jolanta von Schönburg-Glauchau  (2001)
2. Count Maximus Carolus Joachim Maria von Schönburg-Glauchau  (2003)
3. Count Valentin Polykarp Josef Maria von Schönburg-Glauchau (2005)
4. Countess Anabel Maya-Felicitas Sarah Christin  von Schönburg-Glauchau (1980)

She grew up globally. When she was barely two, her family moved to Togo for her father's work. Later on, they moved to Somalia, where she began attending an Italian minssonary school. Upon the fmaily's return to Germany in 1970, her family resided in Mechenheim in Rhineland. When Germany was reunified in 1990, her father took claims to the family's estates in Saxony, which had be stolen by the Soviets in WWII. 

On 29 August 1985, she married Friedrich Christian Flick {Source}. With Flick, she has two sons and a daughter {Source}:

1. Alexander Frederik Flick (1986)
2. Ernst-Moritz Flick (1989)
3. Maria-Pilar Flick

Her marriage was short-lived, the couple divorced in 1993. She would later have a daughter with her partner at the time Stefan Hipp,  named Maria Carlotta Beatrice Hipp. She would later be in a committed relationship with Henry Wyndham.

She resided in England, at the former residence of Marylin Monroe,  Parkside House at Englefield Green, until 2011. She then moved to Italy, before her cancer diagnosis, and moving once again, to Germany.  

Countess Maya was a practicing Catholic, and would frequently go on pilgramiages with her sister Princess Gloria to Santiago de Compostela Cathedral and Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, to which she partially credited with her recovery from cancer.

She was very outspoken about family life and a woman's role, stating that she believed women were meant to raise children and mothers should not have careers.

Like her sister, Princess Gloria, she was frequently photographed at fashion, art and society events in Germany and England. She attended  The Thurn Und Taxis Schlossfestspiele At Schloss Emmeran In Regensburg along side her daughter , Maria-Pilar Flick {Photos}


In 2013, Countess Maya von Schönburg-Glauchau faced a tribunal in Reading, Berkshire for the treatment of her former housekeeper, Teresa Filipowska, whom she had hired in 2008 while living at Parkside House{Source}. Filipowska alleged that she was fired for becoming pregnant without her employer's consent, and also claimed that she was overworked and mistreated by the countess{Source}. The tribunal ordered the countess to pay Filipowska £19,000 on the grounds of unfair dismissal, sex discrimination, and unpaid wages{Source}.

Countess Maya von Schönburg-Glauchau's lung cancer returned. On 27 January 2019 she died from complications relating to cancer while staying at her mother's home in Munich. Her funeral is set to take place in London.