The Guest List So Far ****

Sadly, we did not get very many pictures of all those guests attending the wedding. As apparently about 800 people were in the basilica, this guest list is far from complete and probably one of the most incomplete guest lists, you have ever seen. Nevertheless, a list of those who attended the wedding, pictured and recognised by me or others.

Thanks to everyone who helped putting together this list. All women are listed with their husbands titles even though some of them might still use their own, under-aged children are listed together with their parents.

Family of the groom

Archduke Carl Christian of Austria
Archduchess Marie-Astrid of Austria, née Princess of Luxembourg

Count Rodolphe de Limburg-Stirum
Countess Marie-Christine de Limburg-Stirum, née Archduchess of Austria
Count Leopold de Limburg-Stirum

Archduke Imre of Austria
Archduchess Kathleen of Austria

Archduke Alexander of Austria

Archduchess Gabriella of Austria

Archduchess Yolande of Austria, née Princess de Ligne

Archduke Rudolf of Austria
Archduchess Helene of Austria, née de Villenfagne de Vogelsanck

Archduke Carl-Christian of Austria
Archduchess Estelle of Austria
Archduchess Zita of Austria

Archduchess Priscilla of Austria

Archduke Franz-Ludwig of Austria

Archduke Michael of Austria

Archduchess Alexandra of Austria, Mrs Riesle

Prince Franz-Josef of Auersperg-Trautson
Princess Constanza of Auersperg-Trautson, née Archduchess of Austria
Princess Anna-Maria of Auersperg-Trautson
Princess Ladislaya of Auersperg-Trautson
Princess Eleonora of Auersperg-Trautson

Grand Duke Jean

Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg
Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg

Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg
Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie of Luxembourg, née Countess de Lannoy

Prince Felix of Luxembourg
Claire Lademacher

Prince Louis of Luxembourg
Princess Tessy of Luxembourg
Prince Gabriel of Nassau
Prince Noah of Nassau

Princess Alexandra of Luxembourg

Prince Sebastien of Luxembourg

Princess Marie-Gabrielle de Nassau

Prince Constantin de Nassau

Prince Wenceslas de Nassau

Prince Carl de Nassau

Prince Nikolaus von und zu Liechtenstein
Princess Margaretha von und zu Liechtenstein

Princess Maria-Anunciata von und zu Liechtenstein

Princess Marie-Astrid von und zu Liechtenstein

Prince Josef von und zu Liechtenstein

Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg
Princess Sibilla of Luxembourg
Prince Paul-Louis de Nassau
Prince Léopold de Nassau
Princess Charlotte de Nassau
Prince Jean de Nassau

Family of the bride

Of course, Adelaide's family was also present. I saw her father Philippe and her mother Odile, as well as both her sisters and her two brothers. Judging from the official pictures, I assume that more Drapé-Frisch's were present.


Other guests

Archduke Istvan of Austria
Archduchess Paola of Austria, née de Temesvary
Archduchess Margaretha of Austria

Carl Dunning-Gribble
Viridis Dunning-Gribble, née Archduchess of Austria
Leopold Dunning-Gribble

Don Diego Fernandez de Cordova y Cervero
Eleonore de Potesta

Duke Rudolf of Croy
Duchess Alexandra of Croy, née Countess Miloradovich

Lensgrevinde Antonia Holstein til Ledreborg

Prince Philipp von und zu Liechtenstein
Princess Isabelle von und zu Liechtenstein, née de l'Arbre de Malander

Prince Michel de Ligne
Princess Eleonora de Ligne, née Princess de Orléans e Bragança

Princess Alix de Ligne

Prince Henri de Ligne

Prince Charles-Louis de Merode
Princess Clotilde de Merode, née Countess d'Oultremont

Baron Jean-Louis de Potesta
Baroness Sophie de Potesta, née Princess of Hohenberg

Charles-Louis de Potesta

Elisabeth de Potesta

Prince Nicholas of Romania

Note: All those people mentioned above are persons I have seen photographic prove of that they were present for the wedding. I am sure that there were many more Habsburg's as well as Nassau's were in Nancy. Before the wedding it was also mentioned by newspapers that members of the Merode and Arenberg families as well as Baron and Baroness Bernard Guerrier de Dumast would be attending the wedding.

A Video Report

Just a short heads up: news programme "19/20 Lorraine" on France 3 had a short report about today's wedding of Archduke Christoph and Archduchess Adelaide. You can see the couple as well as some of the guests departing from church, an interview with one of their friends and with the bishop who married them. The report starts at about 0:55 of this video.


Thanks Iza!

Religious Wedding: Pictures and Guests

Photo: Semana

We already had a first impressions post that included information about Adelaide's attire, so here we go with a post detailing some of the guests but mainly sources of pictures.

Galleries of pictures can be found at L'essentiel, Tageblatt, L'Est Républicain, Belga, Sipa Press, AFP, Semana, Wort and L'Est Républicain.

Photo: Semana

Guests I was able to spot on pictures so far included Archduke Carl-Christian and Archduchess Marie-Astrid, Archduchess Marie-Christine and Count Rodolphe de Limburg-Stirum with their little son Leopold, Archduke Imre and Archduchess Kathleen, Archduke Alexander as well as Archduchess Gabriella.

From the paternal side of Christoph's family I have seen pictures of Archduke Rudolf and his wife Archduchess Helene; some of their children were present yesterday so I reckon they were also there today. Christoph's paternal grandmother Archduchess Yolande was also among the guests, as was his aunt Archduchess Constanza.

Photo: Semana

Christoph's godfather Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie, Prince Louis and Princess Tessy with Prince Gabriel and Prince Noah, Princess Alexandra as well as Prince Sebastien were spotted among the guests.

As was Princess Margaretha and her husband Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein as well as Prince Guillaume and Princess Sibilla with their youngest son Prince Jean.

The only non-direct family member I have see so far were Prince Philipp and Princess Isabelle of Liechtenstein, the brother of Prince Nikolaus and his wife.

First Impressions

Archduke Christoph and Archduchess Adelaide just got religiously married at the Basilique Saint Eprve in Nancy. The first pictures have started to roll in so we just gonna roll along...

Photo: L'essentiel / AFP Photo / Jean-Christophe Verhaegen

The bride arriving on the arm of her father, a French diplomat. She wore a custom Diane Lelys gown made of duchess satin with a long train. She toped of her look with an antique Habsburg veil, that has already been worn by her sisters-in-law Marie-Christine and Kathleen on their wedding days, she anchor the veil with the smaller one of the two diamond floral tiaras that are owned by the Grand Ducal family. It is the same tiara that her husband's sister Archduchess Marie-Christine wore at her wedding. One of her sister's acted as Adelaide's bridesmaid.

Photo: Belga / AFP Photo / Jean-Christophe Verhaegen

The groom entered the church on the arm of his mother Princess Marie-Astrid, the oldest child and daughter of Grand Duke Jean and the late Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte.

Photo: Belga / AFP Photo / Jean-Christophe Verhaegen

 More pictures - also of some guests - can be found at Belga and Sipa.

Civil Wedding and More

Excuse us for the delay, of course the civil wedding of Archduke Christoph and his now wife Adelaide took place yesterday, but we were busy otherwise. So let's not waste any more time and have a look at it.

Photo: Alexandre Marchi via L'Est Républicain

Before we come to the actual civil wedding, let's have a look at the "and More": Christoph and Adelaide, his parents Archduke Carl-Christian and Princess Marie-Astrid and a few other guests visited the Église des Cordeliers for prayers in the chapel and a time of conteplation at the tombs of the dukes of Lorraine. France 3 has handily filmed the arrival of the guests, the video (starting at around 2:45) can be found here. A gallery of visuals at L'Est Républicain.

Photo: Alexandre Marchi via L'Est Républicain

In the afternoon, the (first) big moment finally arrived. At 5pm local time, Adelaide and Archduke Christoph civilly tied the knot at the Hôtel de Ville in Nancy. The wedding was officiated by the mayor of the city and loads of family members shared the moment with the happy couple.

Photo: Alexandre Marchi via L'Est Républicain

 Of course there were Christoph's parents Archduke Christian and Archduchess Marie-Astrid, his siblings Archduke Imre and his wife Archduchess Kathleen, Archduke Alexander as well as Archduchess Gabriella; further guests included Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie, Prince Felix and Claire Lademacher, Prince Louis and Princess Tessy, Princess Alexandra as well as Prince Sebastien. Christoph's paternal grandmother Archduchess Yolande was among the guests, as were Archduke Carl-Christian's siblings Archduke Rudolf and his wife Archduchess Helene, Archduchess Alexandra as well as Archduchess Constanza and her husband Prince Franz Josef of Auersperg-Trautson. I could also spot a couple of paternal cousins of the groom as well as members of Adelaide's family.

Also seen among the guests was a rather large diamond ring on Claire's finger.

Photo: Alexandre Marchi via L'Est Républicain

Galleries of pictures can be found at Tageblatt, Wort, L'Est Républicain, SIPA, Royal Press Europe and Rex Features.

Again, France 3 captured the most important moments of the couple arriving and sharing a kiss on the balcony to greet the crowds, you can find it here (starting at 1:40).

Thanks to everyone who helped assemble the links!!

Imre and Louis to Be Witnesses

With not too long to go until the wedding of Archduke Christoph in Nancy tomorrow and the day after, a few new details have surfaced. In case you weren't aware - which, I know, is highly unlikely in cased you have followed the blog over the last couple of hours and days - the second son of Archduke Carl-Christian of Austria and Princess Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg will marry his longtime girlfriend Adelaide Drape-Frisch at Nancy over the next two days.

The civil wedding will be conducted at the Hôtel de Ville at Place Stanislas tomorrow at 5pm. The religious wedding will take place at day later at 11am at the Basilique St Epvre. After the religious ceremony, the Christoph and Adelaide will go to the Église des Cordeliers to lay down her bouquet of flowers. 

Meanwhile, it also has become known that Archduke Christoph's groomsmen will include his older brother Archduke Imre and his maternal cousin Prince Louis. None of them are too surprising. Christoph was also one of Imre's witnesses at his recent wedding and Louis and his wife Tessy are very close to Christoph and his soon-to-be wife Adelaide.


Source: DPA/LRS, L'Est Républicain

A Video and More Pictures

Wort has published a video of the engagement photocall of Prince Félix and Claire Lademacher. In difference to the engagement of Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and then Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy, the journalists weren't allowed to ask any questions.

Photos: René Scho / RTL.lu

In the meantime, more pictures of the photo session have become available. You can find pictures by René Scho over at RTL and pictures by Tom Wagner on his website. Even more pictures are available at Le Quotidien, L'essentiel and Getty Images.

Luxarazzi 101: Habsburg and Lorraine

"Don't forget about Lorraine!", that is what - according to one of his grandnephews - the late Archduke Otto, the last crown prince of the Austro-Hungarian empire, often told his family. Said grandnephew, namely Archduke Christoph, certainly did not forget about the Lorraine when he chose his wedding location. On December 28th and 29th, he will marry his longtime girlfriend Adelaide Drape-Frisch in the capital of Lorraine, Nancy.

Orginating from present day Switzerland, the Habsburg's are one of the most important royal houses in Europe. Different branches of the House of ruled various parts of Europe until 1918. Members of the family were the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors for hundreds of years. The family can trace their roots back to the 8th century.

Empress Maria Theresia

In 1740, the Austrian branch of the Habsburg family went extinct in male line when Charles VI died without leaving a male heir. Instead, his daughter Maria Theresia succeeded him on the basis of the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 and became the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands and Parma. Today's Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty began with the marriage of said Empress Maria Theresia and Duke Franz Stephan of Lorraine.

Originally it had been planned that Maria Theresia would marry Hereditary Prince Léopold Clément, Franz Stephan's older brother, but he died of smallpox in 1723. So, his younger brother Franz Stephan was sent to Vienna to meet with the very young archduchess. He remained at the Austrian court until he ascended to the throne of Lorraine upon his father's death in 1729. It was not until January 1736, that he was formally promised Maria Theresa's hand during the War of the Polish Succession; only a few days later, the couple married on February 12th.

At the time King Louis XV of France demanded that Duke Franz Stephan would trade Lorraine in exchange for the Grand Duchy of Tuscany to Stanisław Leszczyński, the deposed King of Poland and father-in-law of the French king. Upon Gian Gastone de Medici's death in 1737, Franz Stephan ceded Lorraine and became the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Emperor Franz I

Technically, today's House of Habsburg-Lorraine - or Habsburg-Lothringen as it is known in German - is only descending from the old House of Habsburg in matrilineal descent, while patrilineal they belong to the House of Lorraine. To affirm the claim to the thrones of the Austrian, Bohemian and Hungarian countries, it was chosen that the family would bear the name of Habsburg-Lorraine at the time of the wedding of Maria Theresia and Franz Stephan. The couple had sixteen children. Today, the House of Habsburg-Lorraine is the main and now only remaining line of the House of Lorraine.

Three years later in 1740, Maria Theresia's father Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI died and his daughter succeeded him. After five years and a Wittelsbach as Holy Roman Emperor, Franz Stephan was formally elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1745 as Franz I. Three other members of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine would follow him on this post until the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation was abolished in 1806.

Apart from the Habsburg mainland, members of several junior branches of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine reigned in the Italian duchies of Parma (until 1847), Modena (until 1859) and Tuscany (until 1860). Another member of the House, Archduke Maximilian, became emperor of Mexico.

Blessed Emperor Karl

The main branch of the family ruled the Austro-Hungarian empire until 1918, when Austria was declared a republic. A year later the Habsburg law was passed stripping the family of its properties, banning members born before the end of the empire from entering the country and banning anyone bearing the name Habsburg-Lothringen from running for higher office. The latter to parts were since lifted because they violated human rights.

The great grandfather of Archduke Christoph, Blessed Emperor Karl, was the last ruler of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, he bore the title of Emperor of Austria, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, of Dalmatia, of Croatia, of Slavonia, of Galicia, of Lodomeria, and of Illyria, King of Jerusalem, and so forth, Archduke of Austria, Grand Duke of Tuscany and of Cracow, Duke of Lorraine, of Salzburg, of Styria, of Carinthia, of Carniola and of the Bukovina, Grand Prince of Transylvania, Margrave in Moravia, Duke of Upper and Lower Silesia, of Modena, Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, of Auschwitz and Zator, of Teschen, Friuli, Ragusa and Zara, Princely Count of Habsburg and Tyrol, of Kyburg, Gorizia and Gradisca, Prince of Trent and Brixen, Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and in Istria, Count of Hohenems, Feldkirch, Bregenz, Sonnenberg, and so forth, Lord of Trieste, of Cattaro and of the Wendish Mark, Grand Voivode of the Voivodship of Serbia, and so forth.

Wedding of Archduke Otto in Nancy

Archduke Otto, who felt so adamant to never forget Lorraine because some of Blessed Emperor Karl's very last words to his oldest son were "never forget the Lorraine", married in Nancy in 1951. He tied the knot with Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen at the Église des Cordeliers, it is there where Christoph and Adelaide will go to lay down a bouquet of flowers at the tombs of the Dukes of Lorraine.

Blessed Emperor Karl's wish to never forget Lorraine, one of the ancestral homes of the family,  is the reason why all of his descendants still use Habsbourg-Lorraine or Habsburg-Lothringen as their surname while other some other branches only go by Habsburg.

Back in July, Archduke Carl-Christian, who is married to Princess Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg, sent his second son Christoph and his fiancée Adelaide to Nancy to attend a mass for Archduke Otto, who died last year. During this visit they met with the mayor of the town and the priests of the Basilique Saint-Epvre, they were so impressed with the town that they decided that they would like to get married in the capital of the historical Duchy of Lorraine.

More Wedding Guests

We already know that the Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, all their children, all their daughter-in-laws and their future daughter-in-law will be attending the wedding of Archduke Christoph of Austria and Adelaide Drape-Frisch. Now a few more guests have become known: the groom's grandfather Grand Duke Jean will be in Nancy for the big day, as will be Prince Philipp and Princess Isabelle of Liechtenstein. Presumably most of the aunts, uncles and cousins of Archduke Christoph will make their way to Nancy, which means that a lot of Habsburg's and Nassau's will be wandering around the town in the days to come. Members of the Mérode, Ligne, Arenberg and Croÿ families are also among the guests.


Source: L'Est Républicain

Official Engagement Photocall *

Photo: Gerry Huberty / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

Today, a photo session on the occassion of the engagement of Prince Félix and Claire Lademacher took place at the Château de Berg. The castle is the home of the Grand Ducal family and situated close to the small town of Colmar-Berg.

Photo: Gerry Huberty / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

Apart from the happy couple both families were present. Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie, Prince Louis and Princess Tessy with Prince Gabriel and Prince Noah, Princess Alexandra as well as Prince Sébastien appeared in the pictures, as did Claire's parents Hartmut and Gabriele Lademacher as well as her brother Felix. In case you would like to know more about Claire and her family, have a look at our recent post about them.

Photo: Gerry Huberty / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

More pictures can be found over at Wort, RTL, Belga, Profimedia, Tageblatt and PPE.