Weekly Roundup: Couture, Springbreak, and the Special Olympics

This week proved to be slightly slower, so there are only a few items to mention:

Photo: Domenico Dolce / Town & Country / townandcountrymag.com

Princess Astrid appeared in couture for Domenico Dolce's new book Queens: Alta Moda di Dolce & Gabbana, which features some of the women whose style he admires most. For more about the book (and it's $350 price tag), see here.

Photo: © Cour grand-ducale / Claude Piscitelli

On the 14th, Grand Duke Henri attended the 3rd annual opening of Springbreak Luxembourg, which runs from the 14th through the 17th and features new products, foods, artists, and upcoming trends. No photos just yet. Photo added, and link to more photos here.

Photo: Special Olympics Liechtenstein Facebook page

And finally, Princess Nora is in Abu Dhabi to support the Liechtenstein athletes at the Special Olympics. Check out the Facebook page for more photos. Paul-Louis is there as well, as is Tessy who wrote about the opening ceremony for RTL.

#Liechtenstein300: The Principality Kicks Off Birthday Celebrations

Photos: Screenshots Landeskanal

Today, the sixth smallest country in the world celebrated its 300th birthday. That country, of course, is Liechtenstein. (Brush up on your game show knowledge of all things Liechtenstein in our recent Luxarazzi 101.) In fact, today was just the first day of many celebrations to be held this year. The first day of the celebrations saw people from the Oberland, or upper county (the former county of Vaduz), and the Unterland, or lower county (once the lordship of Schellenberg), hike to the Scheidgraben, a ditch that used to mark the border between historical dominions, working together as teams and solving challenges along the way. The day-long journey also formed an integral part of the official celebrations this evening that officially kicked off the anniversary year. Naturally, an array of members of the Princely Family were also in attendance.

However, locating all the members of the Princely Family who were present for the evening celebrations was a bit like searching for a needle in a haystack. Thus far we could positively identify Prince Hans-Adam II and at least three of his children, Hereditary Prince Alois with wife Hereditary Princess Sophie, Prince Max and Princess Tatjana as having been there. All of the Fürst's surviving siblings Prince Philipp, Prince Nikolaus and wife Princess Margaretha as well as Princess Nora with daughter Teresa Sartorius were also in attendance. From the wider family I could also definitely spy Prince Michael and Princess Hildegard as well as Princess Maria-Pia.

Tonight's ceremony included a speech by the Hereditary Prince as well as talks with Liechtenstein's Prime Minister Adrian Hasler and the President of Parliament Albert Frick. The event was interspersed with lots of lovely clips from today's hiking tours including a light show reenactment of the unification of Vaduz and Schellenberg into Liechtenstein 300 years ago today. During his speech, Hereditary Prince Alois thanked the present presidents of Austria, Switzerland and Germany for the good cooperation with and respect towards Liechtenstein for three centuries and especially the last decades. He also urged Liechtensteiners to work together for a prosper future of their country saying, "The future is full of challenges: If we want to keep up the high quality of living for ourselves and our descendants we cannot rest. We have to stay active and ensure the basis of our standard of living every single day. [...] Let us use the chances that this special anniversary year brings. Let us work together in the established and trusted ways between the people and the Princely House to lay a good foundation for the years to come."

Photo: Eddy Risch / Liechtensteiner Vaterland / Vaterland.li

Update:

If you like, you can watch the full official ceremony over on Youtube. If you don't have as much time, Vaterland has videos of the Princely Family arriving including an interview with the Fürst and a rather funny video of Hans-Adam and Alois cutting the birthday cake. They also have a gallery of visuals.

The Aristocrats: A 1983 Documentary About the Princely Family

Photo: Screenshot BBC

This Week's Extra: If you have a bit of time on your hands, check out this documentary about the Princely Family we just stumbled over on Youtube. Entitled "The Aristocrats", it was broadcasted by the BBC in 1983 and includes interviews with Prince Franz Josef and Princess Gina, parents of the current Fürst. While Princess Gina speaks about coming to and living in Liechtenstein, Prince Franz Josef talks about meeting Adolf Hitler, among others. There are also interviews with Prince Hans-Adam, Princess Marie and Princess Nora included.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Weekly Roundup: Wedding Details, Unexpected Sightings and More

September 29 to October 5, 2018

Photos: Bunte

On Saturday, Countess Anna Theresa married Colin McKenzie in her Bavarian hometown. We already covered the wedding here. Thanks to a few new pictures which have surfaced in the printed media we can now give you a more complete rundown of which members of the Grand Ducal and Princely Families attended: In addition to the previously mentioned Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie, Archduchess Marie-Christine and husband Count Rodolphe de Limburg-Stirum as well as Princess Margaretha and Prince Nikolaus with Prince Josef, we also spied Prince Félix and Princess Claire, Archduke Carl-Christian and Archduchess Marie-Astrid, Princess Nora as well as Princess Anunciata and Princess Astrid (in a special dress). The Hereditary Grand Duke, who appeared without a beard for the first time in years, was one of the witnesses at the wedding.

On Monday, Hereditary Princess Sophie was supposed to attend an event on the occasion of European Depression Day. While there was info published in advance, we have not found any pictures or further reports yet.

Photo: Royal Family of Romania

On Monday and Tuesday, Princess Margareta, Custodian of the Crown of Romania, and husband Prince Radu were on a semi-official visit to Liechtenstein (or whatever you call it when non-reigning royals visit reigning royals and make it look official). Princess Margareta, the daughter of Romania's last king, and her husband met with Fürst Hans-Adam II, Hereditary Prince Alois and Hereditary Princess Sophie as part of their visit. At least for part of their visit including visits to the Red Cross, a children's home and more, the Romanian royals were also accompanied by the Hereditary Princess.

If my eyes don't deceive me, Princess Margareta and Prince Radu also ran into Princess Anunciata, oldest daughter of Prince Nikolaus and Princess Margaretha, fresh off her wedding adventures in Germany. Princess Anunciata, who is a niece of Prince Hans-Adam, attended some meeting in relation to the Liechtenstein Olympic Committee probably standing in for her aunt Princess Nora. (News alert! Googling around I just found out that Princess Anunciata actually is a member of the Liechtenstein Olympic Committee since May, a bit of news we seem to have missed. All the details here.) A lot more pictures (and information in case you can read Romanian) on the website of the Romanian Royal Family.

Photo: Michael Zanghel­lini / Liechtensteiner Volksblatt / Volksblatt.li

Sometime midweek, either on Wednesday or Thursday, Hereditary Princess Sophie lend her support to the building project "The Roof" by attending the groundbreaking ceremony. In two years time, the new building will house the Liechtenstein Red Cross among others. More information and pictures at Volksblatt.

On Friday (or earlier today depending on when you read this), the Grand Duchess assisted at the 125th anniversary festivities of the Cercle Artistique de Luxembourg, she is the patron of. The Cercle Artistique aims to bring together Luxembourgish artists of all kind such as visual arts, applied arts and graphics to promote arts education in the country. (Update: The Grand Duke actually attended the event probably standing in for his wife.)

Also earlier today, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced this year's winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, Nadia Murad and Dr. Denis Mukwege, who were honoured for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict. The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess sent letters congratulating both laureates. Grand Duchess Maria Teresa has met and worked with both Ms Murad and Dr. Mukwege. Together with the Dr. Denis Mukwege Foundation, the Fondation du Grand-Duc and de la Grand-Duchesse will host a conference titled "Stand Speak Rise Up" in Luxembourg next year.

Photo: Nils Vollmar / Liechtensteiner Vaterland / Vaterland.li

File the last one under the things we missed category: Back in mid-September, Princess Tatjana was out and about in Liechtenstein giving out the award of the Prince Franz Josef of Liechtenstein Foundation honouring three associations working in the field of palliative care. The only daughter of of Fürst Hans-Adam, is the president of the foundation named in her grandfather's honour. More pictures at Vaterland.

Princess Nora Attends Exhibition Opening in Madrid

Embed from Getty Images

On April 9th, Princess Nora was in Madrid to attend an exhibition preview at Museo Nacional del Prado. The exhibition, entitled "Rubens: Painter of Sketches," runs from April 10th until August 5th and features 93 oil sketches, 73 of which have been loaned from a number of museums around the world, including the Louvre, the Hermitage, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The exhibition is jointly organized by the Prado and the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam, both of which have large selections of Rubens oil sketches. (After the exhibit in Madrid, the exhibition will move to Rotterdam in September.)

Some more photos of Princess Nora at Getty.

Princely Family Supports Tina Weirather at Olympics

Photo: Liechtensteiner Vaterland

Turns out the princely cheering squad at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang is larger than expected: Earlier today, Prince Max, Princess Nora and her daughter Teresa Sartorius, as well as Princess Anunciata were on hand to support Tina Weirather alongside Prime Minister Adrian Hasler during the Downhill event. The Super-G bronze medallist missed the podium narrowly and came in fourth today. The members of the Princely Family also saw the Men's Ski Cross competition today, where Swiss Marc Bischofsberger, who usually competes for a Liechtenstein-based team, won silver.

Liechtenstein Wins Bronze at Winter Olympics (and Fun Facts)

Embed from Getty Images

Liechtenstein won its 10th Olympic medal in history earlier today when Tina Weirather took home the bronze medal in the women's super-G event. The Principality's only IOC member Princess Nora was on hand later in the day to award Weirather, who placed third behind surprise winner Ester Ledecka representing the Czech Republic and Anna Veith of Austria, her medal. (Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to find a picture of Princess Nora and Tina Weirather together.)

Embed from Getty Images

And now for a quick fire round of Liechtenstein Olympic fun facts: The Principality is the only nation to have won all of its medals in one event - alpine skiing that is - at the Winter Olympics. It is also the only country to have won medals at the Winter, but not Summer, Olympic Games. Liechtenstein has the most medals per capita of any country, with nearly one medal for every 3,600 inhabitants - after all it is a country of  about 36,000 and has one skiing area, Malbun. 

Opening Ceremony of the PyeongChang Olympics

Photo: Screenshot ARD

Earlier today, Grand Duke Henri was on hand to cheer on Luxembourg's only athlete at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang. My guess is that Princess Nora, who is an IOC member just like the Grand Duke, was also present to support Liechtenstein's team. Both of them already attended the IOC session in advance to the Olympics during the past few days. The Grand Duke is scheduled to stay in South Korea until February 11.

Grand Duke Henri and Princess Nora at IOC Session

Photo: © IOC / Cour grand-ducale

Between the 5th and the 8th, Grand Duke Henri attended the 132nd IOC session in PyeongChang. Princess Nora, as a member of the International Olympic Committee, was also present. Additionally, the Grand Duke participated in events related to his role on the Olympic Solidarity Commission.

The Opening Ceremony will be held on the 9th, with the Games running until the 25th. Information from the Cour website.

Additionally, Grand Duke Henri took a visit to Olympic Village to meet with one of the Luxembourg athletes. More photos at Tageblatt.

Photo: Tageblatt / tageblatt.lu

Princess Nora Attends Special Olympics Events

On the 13th and 14th, Princess Nora attended Days 1 and 2 of the Special Olympics Winter Games. The events were held in the winter sports communities of Malbun and Steg, both in the municipality of Triesenberg. (Steg, incidentally, holds Liechtenstein's only hill for ski jumping.)

Simon Fehr took home the first place for cross-country skiing, while the three winners of alpine skiing were Sonja Hämmerle, Lukas Foser, and Joel Seiler. There was also a celebrity relay in cross-country skiing that included former Olympic competitor Markus Hasler and Minister of Sports Daniel Risch

Photos of the competitions from Day 1 and Day 2.

Grand Duke Henri in Peru for IOC Duties

Photo: Greg Martin / IOC / Flickr

On the 13th, Grand Duke Henri was in Lima, Peru, where he attended the 131st IOC session and Annual General Meeting. During the course of the session, Paris was awarded the 2024 Summer Olympics, and Los Angeles was awarded the 2028 Summer Olympics. (Both were the sole candidate cities for each year.) Additionally, there were eight new IOC members elected during this session.  A little more information about the session from Wort.

UPDATE: It's been confirmed that Princess Nora was also in attendance, as a member of the IOC. Also, we've added the photos that have been made available from here and here.

Photo: Greg Martin / IOC / Flickr

More Luxembourg and Liechtenstein Participation in GSSE

Photo: Yann Hellers / Luxemburger Wort / wort.lu

The representatives from Luxembourg and Liechtenstein have continued their first-hand support of the GSSE 2017 (Games of the Small States of Europe) in San Marino with further attendance at events. Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie are there to support the Luxembourg athletes, while Princess Nora has been present in support of the athletes from Liechtenstein.

On the 31st, Wort reported a reception that the Hereditary Grand Ducal couple attended at the Piazza della Liberta, hosted by BGL BNP Paribas. Some further reporting on the Luxembourg athletes here, with information about Liechtenstein athletes here.

The GSSE events continue through June 3rd. Athletic events include eight countries: Andorra, Cyprus, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, and - for the first time this year - Montenegro.

Games of the Small States of Europe: Opening and First Day

Photo: Yann Hellers / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

Every two years, Europe's smallest states gather for the Games of the Small States of Europe. This year it was San Marino's turn to host the multi-sport event. Over the course of the coming week, sportspeople from Andorra, Cyprus, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro and San Marino will compete for medals in the following sports: Athletics, basketball, cycling, golf, gymnastics, judo, shooting, swimming, table tennis, tennis and volleyball.

Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie as well as Princess Nora, Liechtenstein's IOC member, were on hand to witness the opening ceremony yesterday and the first day of competition that saw both the Grand Duchy and the Principality bag a few medals. Wort has Luxembourg-centric pictures of yesterday and today; Vaterland Liechtenstein-centric ones.

Tons of Pictures of the Liechtensteins at the Vatican

Photos: L'Osservatore Romano 

Ever cared to look at almost 1.400 pictures of the Princely Family of Liechtenstein attending one single event? Now is the chance of your lifetime! L'Osservatore Romano offers a gallery of visuals of Saturday's visit to the Pope by Prince Hans-Adam and some 36 of his closest relatives containing more than enough pictures to fullfill your wishes. In case you need to brush up on your knowledge of the less regular Liechtenstein faces here at Luxarazzi, we have them all conveniently identified for your here.

Princely Family Meets the Pope: Name That Liechtenstein

It's a good day in Luxarazzi Land as some 34 members of the Princely family unexpectedly joined Fürst Hans-Adam II and Fürstin Marie as well as Hereditary Prince Alois and Hereditary Princess Sophie for a visit to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis. Of course our Who's Who section is always there for you when it comes to identify lesser known members of both the Liechtenstein and Luxembourg families but we thought we would give you a proper rundown of all the surviving descendants of Prince Franz Josef II and Princess Gina who were in attendance. (Spoiler: It's everyone but the three younger children of Hereditary Prince Alois and Hereditary Princess Sophie.)

Photo: L'Osservatore Romana

Quick tip before we start: Click on the picture to enlarge and get a proper look at everyone's faces. And with that, we are off starting from the left: Princess Maria-Anunciata, Princess Margaretha, Prince Nikolaus, Anna von Lattorff, Camilla von Lattorff, Marie von Lattorff, Elisabeth von Lattorff, Lukas von Lattorff, Philipp von Lattorff, Maximilian von Lattorff, Sophie von Lattorff, Princess Tatjana, Prince Alfonso, Princess Angela, Prince Max, Prince Wenzel, The Princess Marie, The Prince Hans-Adam, Pope Francis.

Let's take a quick breather and start with everyone on the right of Pope Francis in the picture: Hereditary Prince Alois, Hereditary Princess Sophie, Prince Constantin, Princess Marie, Prince Moritz, Princess Georgina, Prince Benedikt, Prince Philipp, Princess Isabelle, Prince Alexander, Princess Astrid, Princess Theodora, Prince Wenzeslaus, Prince Rudolf with Princess Laetitia, Princess Tılsım with Prince Karl Ludwig, Prince Josef, Princess Marie-Astrid, Princess Nora and Teresa Sartorius.

Princely Family Meets the Pope

Embed from Getty Images

Pope Francis received pretty much the entire Princely Family at the Vatican today. (Well, those descending from Prince Franz Josef II and Princess Gina anyway). I could spy in pictures: Prince Hans-Adam II and Princess Marie; Hereditary Prince Alois and Hereditary Princess Sophie with Prince Wenzel; Prince Max and Princess Angela; Prince Alfonso; Prince Constantin and Princess Marie with Prince Moritz, Princess Georgina, Prince Benedikt; Princess Tatjana and Philipp von Lattorff with Lukas, Elisabeth, Marie, Camilla, Anna, Sophie; Prince Philipp and Princess Isabelle; Prince Alexander and Princess Astrid with Princess Theodora; Prince Wenzeslaus; Prince Rudolf and Princess Tılsım with Prince Karl Ludwig and Princess Laetitia; Prince Nikolaus and Princess Margaretha, Princess Anunciata; Princess Astrid; Prince Josef; Princess Nora and her daughter Maria Teresa Sartorius y de Liechtenstein.

After meeting the Pope, the princely guests also met with His Eminence Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, accompanied by Msgr. Antoine Camilleri, under-secretary for Relations with States. As per the Holy See's press release, "During the cordial discussions the good bilateral relations between the Holy See and Liechtenstein were evoked, and the historic role of the Catholic Church and the positive contribution she continues to offer to the life of the country were recognised. Appreciation was then expressed for the Principality’s efforts in the international sphere, particularly in the protection of human rights."

More pictures at Getty Images #1, Getty Images #2, APA.

To read about previous Vatican visits by the Princely Family, check out this Luxarazzi 101.

Catching Up With the Liechtensteins

Let's play another round of 'Catching Up With the Liechtensteins' cause they aren't the easiest bunch to follow, are they...?!

On March 9, Hereditary Prince Alois attanded the Liechtenstein Finance Forum in Vaduz. An array of visuals at Vaterland.

On March 14 or 15, the Hereditary Prince received Edgars Rinkēvičs, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia at Schloss Vaduz for an audience. Mr. Rinkēvičs was in Liechtenstein for a working visit. More information but no pictures from Vaterland.

In mid-February, Prince Max was in Jerusalem for some reason. While there, he got a tour of the city but no other than mayor Nir Barkat, who shared a few snaps on Twitter.

Prince Max also gave an interview to Swiss TV station SRF talking finance, the Asian market and stuff earlier this week. The video is available here.

Princess Nora is indeed currently at the Special Olympics Winter Games in Austria, as are some familiar faces from Luxembourg as well as Prince Emanuel of Liechtenstein.

On March 3, Hereditary Prince Alois was in the United States and held a speech at Princeton. The Princely Family is a supporter of the school and co-founded the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination (LISD) think tank.

In mid-February, Prince Philipp gave a talk in Munich speaking about asset preservation over generations using the example of his family.

Guillaume and Stéphanie at the Special Olympics Winter Games

Photo: Pierrot Feltgen

Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie are in Austria at the moment where the duo is attending the Special Olympics in Schladming. Special Olympics Luxembourg has shared numerous glimpses of their activities on Facebook. In addition to numerous sporting events, Guillaume and Stéphanie also attended the opening ceremony last night. The Special Olympics are the world's largest sports organisation for children and adults with intellectual disabilities hosting training as well as competitions including the Special Olympics Winter Games. Princess Nora is also a regular supporter of the event and so I guess she was or will also be present at some point during the Games, we just haven't found visual evidence yet.

Princess Nora Discusses Natural Cosmetics Line

Princess Nora has spoken about her thirty-year mission to develop a line of natural cosmetics and skincare derived from her estate Vivencia Dehesa near Cáceres, Spain. She discusses the challenges of regenerating the land and growing the ingredients to be used in the products. The 250-hectare property underwent extensive efforts to revive the soil and cultivate the various plants, and the estate has received several awards, and in 2016 was named a finalist for the European Business Awards for the Environment. 

More from Hola.

Princess Nora Helps Welcome IOC President to Liechtenstein

On the 17th, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach was in Liechtenstein to visit that country's National Olympic Committee (NOC). IOC Member Princess Nora was there to welcome him for his visit. President Bach presented the NOC President with a trophy, met with several Olympic athletes from Liechtenstein, and toured the State Museum's current Olympics exhibit.

A little more from the Olympic Games website.