Caroline Faber-Castell

Caroline Gotzens (born August 20, 1961 in Stein near Nuremberg as Caroline Elisabeth Renate Ottilie Countess of Faber-Castell) is a German-Swiss industrial heiress and family member of the Cologne-based banking dynasty Oppenheim, as well as the Frankish pencil dynasty Faber-Castell.

Family

Countess Faber-Castell-Gotzens is the daughter of German billionaire Count Hubertus Faber-Castell (died 2007) and Countess Liselotte Faber-Castell (née Baecker, born 1939 in Frankfurt). Hubertus brought commercial television to China and is the only European honorary citizen of Beijing. Her mother was married for the second time to the Rhenish industrialist N. Hünnebeck and is considered one of the largest landowners in Germany. Faber-Castell is the owner of one of the most important silver and jewelry collections in Germany. Most of the pieces are available to the public in various German museums. The entire private collection has been recorded by the Kunstmuseum Köln under the name "A Rhenish Silver Treasure - Jewelry and Appliances from Private Ownership".

Childhood

Faber-Castell-Gotzens belongs to the 9th generation of the Faber-Castell founding family. She grew up on Burg Klamm [de] in Tyrol. The Countess never lived in the family castle. She is widely related to the royal families Castell-Castell and Castell-Rüdenhausen. Her grandmother, Alix-May von Frankenberg and Ludwigsdorf, daughter of Victoria Freiin von Oppenheim, was co-owner of Europe's largest private bank Sal.Oppenheim Jr. & Cie. Her sister Floria Princess of Hesse is married to the Head of the Hesse Foundation, Donatus Prince of Hesse.

Personal

Faber-Castell-Gotzens is married to Düsseldorf-based entrepreneur Dr. Michael Gotzens. The couple has three grown children, namely Antonia-Sophie, Alessandra-Louisa and Nicholas Gotzens. The Countess is one of the wealthiest women in Germany. Sources of her wealth mainly mirror up the industrial participations of her family and her billionaire father. Her assets are managed by a family office based in Switzerland. Among others, the Family Office was a silent partner in Infront Sports Media. She was mentioned in connection with her brother Patrick Alexander Count of Faber-Castell and Nicole Brachetti-Peretti, who had shared interest through the Junkermann Group, in Infront Sports Media. This involvement earned much negative media attention, as their business partner Robert Louis-Dreyfus allegedly abused the company for bribes to FIFA officials. Later, Infront was sold to private equity firm Bridepoint by the consortium of shareholders for approximately 600 million euros in 2011. Further attention caught the media-shy woman by the revelation of the Panama Papers. She was accused of having facilitated tax burdens in the double-digit million range by Caribbean letterbox companies. The Countess did not comment on the allegations.