Background
Anselm Franz was the eldest child and son of Eugen Alexander Franz, 1st Prince of Thurn and Taxis and his wife Princess Anna Adelheid of Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg.
Anselm Franz was the eldest child and son of Eugen Alexander Franz, 1st Prince of Thurn and Taxis and his wife Princess Anna Adelheid of Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg.
The date of his birth is unknown, but Anselm Franz was baptised on 30 January 1681 at the Our Blessed Lady of Zavel Church in Brussels. Under his father, at the beginning of the War of the Spanish Succession the administration of the Imperial Reichspost was moved from Brussels to Frankfurt am Main. When his father died, Anselm Franz was appointed by Charles VI in 1815, and returned to the family"s home in Brussels, but the city now had no significance for the Reichspost.
He therefore moved back to Frankfurt am Main in 1724, where he bought a plot of land on which he later started construction of the Baroque Palais Thurn und Taxis in 1729.
In 1725, he was able to lease the postal system of the Austrian Netherlands as a Habsburg fief. His move to Frankfurt was drawn out over several years, as the city council had some objections and in any case the construction of his palace took its time.
From 1737 he lived in the still unfinished palace in Frankfurt, but then returned in 1739 to Brussels, where he died unexpectedly. Titles and styles 1681–1695: His Serene Highness The Hereditary Count of Thurn and Taxis 1695 – 21 February 1714: His Serene Highness The Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis 21 February 1714 – 8 November 1739: His Serene Highness The Prince of Thurn and Taxis Honours.
