Gloria von Thurn and Taxis couldn't have picked a worse day for the New York debut of her latest line of luxury products. The Dow Jones fell below the 10,000 mark for the first time in years, panic broke out on Wall Street and existential angst gripped the world.

Apparently, though, troubled times haven't hit Bergdorf Goodman, Fifth Avenue's most expensive department store. And the business savvy princess, officially known as Mariae Gloria Ferdinanda Gerda Charlotte Teutonia Franziska Magarethe Frederike Simone Johanna Joachima Josefine Wilhelmine Huberta Princess von Thurn und Taxis, chose the exclusive store as the site to launch her new line of nibbles for the wealthy.

It's Monday night, three hours after the close of the markets, and New York society has gathered for tea with Princess Gloria, the closest thing Germany has to a royal, for the US premiere of her "Tea Time Collection" of shortbread cookies, tea and marmalades -- all in fine packing emblazoned with an image of her family's Bavarian palace.

"Mmmmmh!" "delicious," "wonderful," the guests comment. New York's ladies who lunch seem taken by the cookies -- which are rich in butter and have a pinch of salt. These hearty treats may be a little too fatty for curve-conscious New Yorkers, but they still seem willing to try them as the princess personally serves the cookies -- each bearing her personal initial "G" -- at her coming out as a purveyor of fine epicurean products.

For one night, it's like a return to the glamorous New York of the 1970s. The event is packed with the brightest lights of Manhattan society scene -- veterans like Lee Radziwill, Jackie Kennedy's sister. Bob Colacello, a close friend of Andy Warhol and the former editor of Interview magazine is also here. Colacello helped to cement "Princess Gloria's" fame in the United States  and is serving as host of the evening's event. "I wrote four stories about Gloria for Vanity Fair," he says, proudly. Thurn und Taxis was famous in the 1980s for her jet-setting, extravagant lifestyle and disparagingly dubbed "Princess TNT" back at home in Germany. She's since mellowed and established herself as a fixture of society -- both in Germany and abroad.