Sunday, January 10, 2016

Video of Grand Duke Jean's Birthday Celebrations

Photo: SIP / Julien Warnand
Yesterday saw the celebrations for Grand Duke Jean's 95th birthday, which included a photo opportunity at the palais as well as a concert at the Philharmonie. RTL covered the events in their evening news today and the report can be seen on their website. Unfortunately, we can only see one small excerpt of the speechs of the grandchildren of Grand Duke Jean. But here's a translation of what Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume said, "Dear Apapa, on the occasion of your birthday, we all want to emphasise how proud we are of you. Now it is onto us all both in this room and outside to wish you, dear Apapa, all the best for your birthday."

Fun fact (and something I wasnt aware of until Arjan pointed it out): Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and his cousins famously call their grandfather Apapa - and that might just be a very old family tradition. Already King Christian IX of Denmark, a.k.a. "the father-in-law of Europe" and great-great-great-great-grandfather of Guillaume, was known as Apapa by his grandchildren. (Of course we can't know for certain whether this is the origin but it's still interesting to know.)

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