Open Post About the Funeral Arrangements for Grand Duke Jean

Photo: Cour grand-ducale / Jochen Herling

Grand Duke Jean passed away shortly after midnight earlier today at the age of 98 after suffering from a pulmonary infection surrounded by his family. As little bits and pieces of information have been coming out over the course of the day (and will probably continue to), we decided to conveniently put them into one post, which will continuously update over the coming days.

• The state funeral will take place on Saturday, May 4, at 11am at the Cathédral Notre-Dame.

• Luxembourg will observe a national period of morning until May 4 at 6pm. All flags have been lowered to half-mast.

• The government met today at 10am to observe a minute of silence and discuss the plans for the coming days.

• At 12pm, Grand Duke Henri and Prime Minister Xavier Bettel met at Château de Berg.

• At 12.15pm, the bells of all the Catholic churches in Luxembourg rang for 15 minutes in honour of Grand Duke Jean.

• Today's parliamentary session in Luxembourg as well as several press conferences by the government and other organisations in the Grand Duchy have been postponed.

• Later today (Tuesday) will see the removal of Grand Duke Jean's banner as a Knight of the Garter in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. The same will happen for the Order of the Seraphim in Stockholm after the funeral.

• On Saturday, April 27, at 5pm the Archbishop of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Hollerich will celebrate a special mass in honour of Grand Duke Jean. All Catholic parishes in the Grand Duchy are asked to keep the former Grand Duke in their prayers this weekend.

Update #1 (April 23, 3pm)

• An official farewell ceremony for Grand Duke Jean will take place at the Chamber of Deputies on Friday, May 3.

• The Luxembourgish football league (FLF) has announced that there will minutes of silence at all their matches today and tomorrow.

Update #2 (April 23, 9.30pm)

• Several people paid a visit to Château de Berg today to offer their condolences to the Grand Ducal Family. In addition to Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and President of Parliament Fernand Etgen, those who did also included members of the Belgian royal family, namely King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, King Albert II and Princess Astrid. A video of their cars arriving here. King Albert was, of course, a brother-in-law to Grand Duke Jean.

• The ministry of education has announced that there will be no school in Luxembourg on May 4, the day of the funeral of Grand Duke Jean. This also includes musical and language schools. 

Update #3 (April 24, 4.30pm)

•  Grand Duke Henri has cancelled his scheduled events for tomorrow. It is fairly unlikely we will see any members of the Grand Ducal Family attending official events until after the funeral on May 4.

• The state visit by the President of Cape Verde to Luxembourg originally scheduled between May 7 and 9, 2019, has been postponed. No new date has been set yet.

Update #4 (April 25)

• The coffin of Grand Duke Jean will be transported to the palais grand-ducal where he will lie in state the next week. The public is also invited to attend his funeral. More details on both here.