BMW wanted to take the summer holidays to make a decision. Now, more than eight weeks after the end of the recent Regensburg Castle Festival, one thing is certain: the car manufacturer is withdrawing as a sponsor of the event. “The company is currently realigning its social commitment at the Regensburg plant location. In this context, the BMW Group Regensburg plant has decided not to extend the sponsorship contract with Odeon Concerte, the organizer of the Regensburg Castle Festival, which expired in the summer of 2023,” says when asked Press spokesman for the BMW plant in Regensburg in writing. BMW says it wants to continue to be involved in Regensburg as a cultural location. However, details cannot yet be given.
And what about Gloria von Thurn and Taxis? Not a word to Gloria. BMW’s exit as a sponsor could well be due to the fact that Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, patron of the festival and hostess of St. Emmeram Castle in Regensburg, where the festival takes place, is increasingly involved in populist, homophobic, racist statements or network meetings with right-wing populists stands out. And that more and more people are speaking out who see a problem in the fact that such a person is the face of one of the city’s most important cultural events.
Especially since Gloria, as the landlady, also invites her own guests. The visit of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in 2012, whom she described as a “hero” who “leads his people to freedom” at St. Emmeram Castle, will probably remain in her memory. Orbán, of all people, has been carrying out an unprecedented dismantling of democracy in Hungary since he took office.
But as much as Gloria is obviously a fan of clear statements, people now prefer to beat around the bush in the festival environment. “As a company that is committed to its shareholders and employees, we regularly review the use of our financial and human resources – and adjust them if necessary,” says BMW cryptically. The car company was the main sponsor of Gloria’s festival for 17 years.
And the organizer of the concert series, Odeon Concerte, never tires of emphasizing how indifferent he is to the controversy surrounding the landlady of the castle – and at the same time also points out every time that Gloria is not the organizer of the festival.
This year the criticism of Gloria became unmistakable
However, the left-wing camp in the city always expressed itself clearly. Year after year, various initiatives have called for a boycott. Little had changed – until this year. The DGB Youth Upper Palatinate around Martin Oswald set up a website that documents Gloria’s verbal lapses. The young union members demonstrated in front of the castle, demanding the expropriation of the self-proclaimed princess.
Shortly before this year’s Castle Festival, the criticism became louder and louder. In an open letter, 100 respected Regensburg cultural workers called on artists and audiences not to allow “art and music to be misused for the patron’s political propaganda.”
Demonstrators clearly express their displeasure with Ms. Thurn and Taxis.
(Photo: Armin Weigel/dpa)
The festival went ahead anyway. The start was accompanied by a glued activist from the “Last Generation” and a few hundred demonstrators.
According to organizers, ticket sales were above average despite the previous controversy. Simply Red and Eros Ramazotti and many more performed as planned. Jonas Kaufmann canceled – but because of his health, not because of Gloria.
By the way, before BMW left, another sponsor of the festival said goodbye. The Regensburg energy supplier Rewag had already left in May – but because of strict compliance regulations, not because of Gloria.
In June, BMW threatened to end the sponsorship as well – with a clear reference to patron Gloria. And with the prospect that the sponsorship could continue under certain conditions. Why this egg dance now? Do people in Regensburg simply not want to say goodbye to the glamor that once rubbed off on the city from the punk princess in her beautiful castle?
The artist Jonas Höschl, who initiated the call for a boycott by cultural workers, suspects that the car manufacturer “had no other choice in this situation.” He means Gloria’s most recent gaffes, because she had since followed up: “When Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, as patron, throws around conspiracy theories and a journalist in the run-up to the castle festival in the Regensburg press club, among other things, as a Stasi officer insulted, red lines were crossed here again.”
In an interview with a former journalist from the German branch of the propaganda channel Russia Today, she also fantasized that a possible withdrawal of the main sponsor BMW because of her controversial statements would primarily harm the car brand and not her or the festival. “This may have made it impossible for BMW to continue supporting this event, which is so closely linked to its controversial patron,” says Höschl.