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Count Rudi of Schönburg-Glauchau was a key figure in establishing Marbella, especially the Marbella Club, as a destination for the rich and famous to enjoy the Mediterranean sun. He was, according to ElMundo, a "privileged witness to the flourishing of the jet-set capital and a benchmark of the hospitality and lifestyle that marked the beginning of a golden age ...at the Costa del Sol and to one of its most emblematic hotels, the Marbella Club."
The German-born Count died in Marbella on October 17. He was 94 years old. The cause of death was Alzheimer's.
H Ill Count Rudolf Maria Emil Franz Friedrich Carl Antonius Christopherus Hubertus Joseph Wenzel Michael of Schönburg-Glauchau was born at Schloss Wechelsburg in Saxony on September 25, 1932. He was the fourth of eight children and the second son of H. H. Friedrich Carl Ludwig Bohuslaw Anton Jakob Joseph Joachim Maria, Count of Schönburg-Glauchau, and Countess Maria Anna Baworowska.
His father, Count Carl, was killed in the final days of World War II, defending Breslau, in Silesia, which, following the Potsdam Conference in the summer of 1945, was returned to Poland as Wrocław. The Soviet troops marched into Saxony, appropriating several noble properties, including Schloss Wechelsburg. The newly widowed Countess Maria Anna and her family were forced to flee to western Germany. Rudolf's paternal aunt, Wilhelmine, married Prince Maximilian of Fürstenberg and invited the family to live at Schloss Donaueschingen in Baden-Württemberg.
By 1949, most of Saxony was a part of East Germany. The DDR appropriated Schloss Wechelsburg and used it as a children's hospital. Today it is a Benedictine monastery.
When one of his uncles asked what he planned to do with his life, Rudolf responded, "What I'd really like to do is hotel management." His godfather financed his studies at the prestigious École hôtelière de Lausanne in Switzerland, where he earned a degree in hotel management. One of his first hotel jobs was serving room service at the Vier Jahreszeiten hotel in Hamburg. One of his cousins, Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, was a guest at the hotel and invited Rudolf to join him in Marbella, Spain, saying, "I am planning something there with the money of my mother's family."
The plan and the money led to the Marbella Club, one of the most exclusive hotel experiences in the world.
In 1956, Prince Alfonso hired the young Rudolf as an assistant manager before he headed to Mexico for more experience. He returned to the Marbella Club in 1961 and was named General Manager. He remained in this position until 1983.
Several years ago, the Marbella Club profiled Count Rudi, as family and friends knew him. A Lesson in Life featured an interview with Rudolf, who answered a variety of questions.
One question: An image that you've never been able to forget? His response: "Walking into the church on my wedding day.
Rudolf met his future wife, HRH Princess Marie Louise of Prussia, through his brother, Joachim, Count of Schönburg-Glauchau, and his first wife, Countess Beatrix Széchényi de Sárvár et Felsövidék, who lived in Somalia, where Count Joachim worked for the German government. Beatrix had recently given birth to their fourth child, Alexander, in Mogadishu, and she needed assistance with her children. She thought of her cousin, Princess Marie Louise, a trained nurse working in a hospital for children with infectious diseases.
The princess was the daughter of HRH Prince Wilhelm Viktor of Prussia, a grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and Countess Marie Antoinette von Hoyos.
The young German princess jumped at the chance for what would be the adventure of her life. She spent five months with Joachim and his family before returning to Europe. At Mogadishu airport, she first met Count Rudolf, who traveled via Nairobi to visit his family. Marie Louise was heading to Nairobi to visit friends, and then home.
"I was very upset at having to leave and had no interest in greeting him," she said some years later.
In May 1970, Marie Louise was invited to Rudolf's brother Count Georg's wedding to Countess Madeleine von Spee. She had no intention of attending until she heard Joachim and Beatrix were bringing their young children. Count Rudolf arrived with the Prince of Fürstenberg.
Marie Louise noted: "We were being pushed together from all sides; it seemed everybody wanted to see us as a couple." They were married in a civil ceremony in Hechingen on May 19, 1971. They followed this with a Roman Catholic service on May 22, 1971, in the Chapel of St. John in Schloss Donaueschingen.
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| Courtesy of Count Rudolf von Schönburg-Glauchau |
Princess Marie Louise was the "greatest love" of his life
That same year, Rudolf became the director of the Marbella Club. He considered "the success of having influenced the style of the Marbella Club Hotel" as his greatest achievement.
The couple spent their entire married lives in Marbella, where they raised two children, Countess Sophie Anastasia Wilhelmine Marie Antoinette (1979) and Count Friedrich Wilhelm Simeon Heinrich Dionysius Joachim Rudolf Maria Adalbert (1985). Queen Sophie of Spain is one of Countess Sophie's godparents.
Count Rudolf considered Marbella to be "paradise." He was a devout Roman Catholic who often expressed his "gratitude to God."
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He is survived by his widow, Princess Marie Louise; their two children, Countess Sophie and Count Friedrich; and three grandchildren, Rudi, Carlotta, and Maximiliano Andreu y Schönburg-Glauchau.
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H Ill H H Alexander, Count von Schönburg-Glauchau, adored his uncle, describing him as "the last of his kind. A shining example of politeness and what one used to call courteousness."
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2026/04/count-friedrich-of-schonburg-glauchau.html
https://www.marbellaclub.com/blog/una-leccion-de-vida-una-entrevista-con-el-conde-rudi
https://onalexandersmind.blogspot.com/2026/10/i-will-miss-you-onkel-rudi.html
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