Sunday, May 18, 2014

Luxarazzi 101: The Princely Family at the Vatican

Already quite some time ago we did a Luxarazzi 101 showing the Grand Ducal Family on their visits to the Vatican and now, inspired by the recent canonisations of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II, it is time to do the same with our (not so) new (anymore) kids to the blog, the Princely Family. As always, this post makes no claim whatsoever to be complete as I can only write about the times the Liechtensteins visited the Vatican and met the different popes which I know about.
Photo: Historischer Verein für das Fürstentum Liechtenstein
To the best of my knowledge, the first time that a member of the Princely Family visited the Vatican and was pictured doing it occured in 1941. On November 4th, Prince Franz-Josef II as well as his sisters Princess Marie-Therese and Princess Marie-Henriette were received in an audience by Pope Pius XII. Their parents, Archduchess Elisabeth and Prince Alois, had previously been welcomed at the Vatican by Pope Leo XIII during their honeymoon in 1903.

Without any visual evidence, Prince Franz-Josef II, Princess Gina and their oldest son Prince Hans-Adam were received by Pope Pius XII in a private audience in May 1950. Pope Pius XII was in fact the godfather of Prince Hans-Adam.
Photo: Historischer Verein für das Fürstentum Liechtenstein
In October 1950 occured the seemingly only full-blown state visit including orders, a tiara and more from Liechtenstein to the Holy See when Prince Franz-Josef and Princess Gina visited Pope John XXIII, who was canonised last month. On their visit, the Princely Couple was accompanied by the Principality's prime minister Alexander Frick.
Photo: Liechtensteiner Volksblatt
15 years later, Prince Franz-Josef II and Princess Gina visited the Vatican once again. By 1975, Pope Paul VI had ascended to the papal throne and thus it was he who welcomed the Princely Couple for a private audience in October of that year.
Photo: Liechtensteiner Volksblatt
In February 1980, then Hereditary Prince Hans-Adam and Hereditary Prince Marie as well as their children Prince Alois, Prince Max, Prince Constantin and Princess Tatjana visited the Vatican, where they were welcomed by Pope John Paul II, who was also canonised last month, in a private audience.
A few months later, in October of the same year to be exact, Prince Franz-Josef II and Princess Gina also paid a visit to the Vatican. Together with their three youngest children, Prince Nikolaus, Princess Nora and Prince Wenzel, they were welcomed by Pope John Paul II.
Photo: Historischer Verein für das Fürstentum Liechtenstein
Three years later, there were a whole lot of Liechtensteins and Liechtensteiners at the Vatican as the Princely Family actually led a pilgrimage of more than 700 inhabitants of the Principality to Rome. On October 14th, 1983, they were all welcomed by Pope John Paul II. The members of the Princely Family making their way to meet His Holiness included Prince Franz-Josef II and Princess Gina, Hereditary Prince Hans-Adam and Hereditary Princess Marie with their children Prince Alois, Prince Max, Prince Constantin and Princess Tatjana, Prince Philipp and Princess Isabelle with their sons Prince Alexander, Prince Wenzeslaus and Prince Rudolf, Prince Nikolaus and Princess Margaretha, Princess Nora as well as Prince Wenzel.
Photo: Historischer Verein für das Fürstentum Liechtenstein
In 1984, it was decided that Liechtenstein would establish official diplomatic relations with the Holy See. On January 27th, 1985, Prince Nikolaus presented his letter of credence to Pope John Paul II making him Liechtenstein's first (and thus far only) non-resident ambassador to the Holy See.
Photo: Historischer Verein für das Fürstentum Liechtenstein
During the 1983 visit to the Vatican, Prince Franz-Josef II had invited Pope John Paul II to come to the Principality and already two years later the Pope followed the invitation. On September 8th, 1985, he visited Liechtenstein for a day. The papal visit basically brought out the entire Principality including the Princely Family.
Photo: Seeger Press
Spot the royal! The beatification of Emperor Karl of Austria in 2004 brought out a whole array of familiar faces. Among the pilgrims I spotted on pictures were Prince Hans-Adam and Princess Marie, Prince Nikolaus and Princess Margaretha with Princess Maria-Anunciata, Princess Marie-Astrid and Prince Josef, as well as Princess Isabelle with her sons Prince Wenzeslaus and Prince Rudolf. (And cause we are Luxarazzi: Archduchess Marie-Astrid and Archduke Carl-Christian with Archduchess Marie-Christine, Archduke Imre, Archduke Christoph, Archduke Alexander and Archduchess Gabriella, as well as Prince Guillaume and Princess Sibilla with baby Prince Jean where there, too.)
Photo: Seeger Press
A year later, Prince Hans-Adam II and Princess Marie as well as Prince Nikolaus and Princess Margaretha visited the Vatican for the funeral of Pope John Paul II...
Photo: Seeger Press
...and a short while later, Hereditary Prince Alois and Hereditary Princess Sophie as well as Prince Nikolaus and Princess Margaretha represented the Principality at the inauguration of Pope Benedict XVI.
Photo: EinTracht
The next visit by Liechtensteins to the Vatican brought out 22 members of the Princely Family. In 2007, Prince Hans-Adam and Princess Marie, Hereditary Prince Alois and Hereditary Princess Sophie with Prince Wenzel, Princess Marie-Caroline, Prince Georg and Prince Nikolaus, Prince Max and Princess Angela with Prince Alfons, Prince Constantin and Princess Marie with Prince Moritz and Princess Georgina, Princess Tatjana and Philipp von Lattorff with Lukas, Elisabeth, Marie and Camilla von Lattorff, as well as Prince Nikolaus were received by Pope Benedict XVI in a private audience.
Photo: Zimbio
In 2011, Prince Hans-Adam and Princess Marie as well as Prince Nikolaus and Princess Margaretha, who were accompanied by their two daughters Princess Maria-Anunciata and Princess Marie-Astrid, attended the beatification of Pope John Paul II.
Photo: Dutch Photo Press
And as they either flip a coin or simply take turns at visiting the Vatican, it was Hereditary Prince Alois and Hereditary Prince Sophie who attended the inauguration of Pope Francis last year. As always, they were accompanied by Prince Nikolaus, the Principality's non-resident ambassador to the Holy See, and Princess Margaretha.
Photo: Centro Televisivo Vaticano
It is Prince Nikolaus' diplomatic role as ambassador that lets him and his wife, Princess Margaretha, to also regularly attend audiences for the diplomatic corps. The picture above if from the first one of Pope Francis in March 2013 but they also did so in January 2012 and January this year, for example.
Photo: Centro Televisivo Vaticano
And last but certainly not least, last month Prince Hans-Adam and Princess Marie as well as Prince Nikolaus and Princess Margaretha with their children Princess Maria-Anunciata and Prince Josef attended the canonisation of the previous Popes John XXIII and John Paul II.

Are you aware of any other princely visits to the Vatican? Let us know!

2 comments:

  1. RE: your recent piece on the chronology of official visits of the Princely Family of Liechtenstein to various Popes over the decades---very well done. Just one grammatical snafu: the paragraph that begins "15 years later"....there is a sentence that begins, "Thus it was him who...". This should read: "Thus it was HE who...." Kind Regards, Anna

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  2. Thanks, I'm not a native speaker so corrections are always welcome ;)

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