State Visit to Portugal - Day 1 **

You may find a semi-detailed itinerary at the Presidential website. Wort also carries a program of the visit. Additionally, Wort carries an article about the visit and an article about the large Portuguese population in Luxembourg. RTL mentions the visit and provides a link to the press release about the visit. And in case there was any doubt, Wort does indeed love us, ladies and gents. The proof? They have provided us with the first glimpse of The Grand Ducal Couple's visit, with an article and nice handful of accompanying photos. Danke schön!

Belga, DayLife, Getty and ANP have started galleries. Enter Luxembourg Portugal into any search boxes. The President and the Cour Grand-Ducale have updated their websites with photographs. The Luxembourg government has also provided information and photographs. Dr. Maria Cavaco Silva entertained the Grand Duchess during parts of the visit with appropriate activities. Royalty in the News blog has a nice article covering some of the points of the visit. I often get distracted while writing about the jewelry and ancestry and skip these points, which are generally the same for each state visit.

The Grand Duke thanked Portugal for for hosting members of the Grand Ducal Family's exile during WWII. He also thanked the large Portuguese community in Luxembourg for their contribution to The Grand Duchy. The Grand Duke made a point to highlight his own Portuguese ancestry.

The Grand Duchess wore emerald and diamond jewelry for the gala. This is the first time that Maria Teresa as worn Grand Duchess Josephine Charlotte's Emerald and Diamond Tiara/Collier. The convertible tiara/necklace was crafted by Van Cleef and Arples in 1956 at the request of Josephine Charlotte and using stones from pieces she inherited from her mother. I believe, the tiara was last worn by Princess Tessy. She also wore Queen Astrid's Diamond and Emerald Collier/Bracelet. The jewel was given to Queen Astrid to mark the birth of her first child, Josephine-Charlotte. Additionally, she wore a bracelet of emeralds and diamonds mounted on a gold band that was previously worn by Charlotte and Josephine-Charlotte. The large emerald and diamond brooch was previously owned by Josephine-Charlotte.

I must say that the gala was beautifully prepared! The President's website offers a wonderful array of high quality watermark free photographs. TRH The Duke and Duchess of Braganza (titular king and queen of Portugal) were seated at the table of honor with the Presidential Couple and The Grand Ducal Couple. Unfortunately, no jewels on Dona Isabel.

A little lesson in Luxembourg-Portuguese inter-relatedness....The Grand Duke is descended from King Miguel I of Portugal, through two of the king's daughters. Infanta Maria Ana of Portugal was the consort of Grand Duke Wilhelm of Luxembourg. She was also the regent for her husband and during the short minority of her daughter, Grand Duchess Marie-Adelaide. Maria Ana was the mother of Henri's grandmother, Grand Duchess Charlotte. Maria Ana's younger sister, Infanta Maria Antonia, was the second wife of Robert I, The Duke of Parma. Their son, Prince Felix de Bourbon de Parme married his first cousin Grand Duchess Charlotte. Infanta Maria Antonia's daughter Princess Zita later became Empress of Austria. Zita's grandson, Archduke Carl-Christian married Henri's sister, Princess Marie-Astrid. That is more than a bit of Portuguese ancestry. It seems only fitting that the Portuguese community is the largest immigrant group in Luxembourg and that The Grand Ducal Family is part Portuguese.

Please note: I left the names of Grand Duke Wilhelm and Grand Duchess Maria Ana spelled as they were at birth. In Luxembourgish documents Wilhelm was simultaneously listed as Guillaume in French and as Wilhelm in Luxembourgish. Maria Ana was simultaneously listed as Marie Anne in French and Maria Anna in Luxembourgish. I, personally, favor the Luxembourgish names because they are pronounced the same as the names that the couple bore at their christenings. The Grand Duke was born Wilhelm and his wife, Maria Ana. It is cumbersome to use two different names for him and three for her when writing.

Additionally, some of the jewelry information was taken from the book of Christophe Vachaudez, Ursula's website, and postings on various message boards (English and Spanish language) by several authors over many years. The most recent information was by Marianne, Tamara, Lorenzo, Josephine, Hans, Johan and Vincent on the RJMB during the course of many conversations about the jewels of Luxembourg, Norway/Sweden, Queen Astrid, and Princess Lilian. Many of the recent conversations center around the emeralds that were owned by Queen Astrid, most of which were inherited by Josephine-Charlotte.

Thanks to HGD, Lily, Charlotte and Irishthanhy for providing pictures and info.

Those of you that follow on twitter may have noted that I retweeted some Portuguese articles. I only just noted that the twitter account is double posting. I'll correct this tonight and I apologize for any annoyance.