Prince Hans-Adam and Princess Marie Celebrate Their Birthdays

Photo: Daniel Ospelt / Liechtensteiner Vaterland / Vaterland.li

Today, Prince Hans-Adam celebrates his 70th birthday. Already last night, a reception for his and Princess Marie's upcoming 75th birthday was hosted at Schloss Vaduz. Not many pictures are available but I assume that more members of the Princely Family were present, especially as Prince Hans-Adam recently said that all his children and some of his siblings would be in Liechtenstein this weekend. Among the guests for last night's reception were the members of government and parliament, the presidents of courts and senate, the mayors, the presidents of all parties and the Archbishop. One picture each is available at Vaterland and Volksblatt.

Stay tuned for later today and tomorrow when we are going to publish translations of interviews by Prince Hans-Adam, Hereditary Prince Alois and Prince Wenzel given to mark the Fürst's 70th birthday. While Prince Hans-Adam talks tearing up the old catechism in school and what role Prince Charles and Princess Anne played in the announcement of his engagement to the former Countess Marie Kinsky, Hereditary Prince Alois reveals that his family has no musical talent whatsoever and how he talks social media with his children. In addition, Prince Wenzel speaks about learning Spanish in South America and being a chaffeur to his siblings.

Hereditary Prince Alois Discusses School Systems

File this under "better late than never"!

Back on Tuesday, February 3rd, Hereditary Prince Alois met with a group of teachers to discuss different approaches to school systems. These teachers, who are part of Project Comenius, also participate in Guide-moi en Europe which aims to broaden student horizons about different European regions and awaken their interest in the widespread cultural heritages that make up Europe. Educational partners for this particular project come from five schools in five countries: Belgium, Norway, Italy, Germany, and, of course, Liechtenstein.

This blog has some great photos of the event.

Touring Château les Crostes with Prince Félix

Photo: Azur TV

Local TV channel Azur TV visited Prince Félix at his vineyard Château les Crostes in southern France. A video of the Grand Duke's second son showing host and chef Bruno Clément around the Château and explaining a whole lot about his wines was broadcasted back in late January. The full video can be seen here.

Grand Duke Henri Receives the President of Palestine

Source: Cour Grand-Ducale

Today Grand Duke Henri received in audience President Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine. The Palestinian leader is on a working visit to Luxembourg to discuss the current situation in the Middle East and explore peace options between Israel and Palestine.

President Abbas was also received by Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, and he participated in meetings with Grand Duke Henri, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, and Chamber of Deputies President Mars di Bartimoleo.

Another photo, and a little more about the focus of the visit, at Wort.

70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Vianden

Photo: Guy Jallay / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

Last night, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie visited Vianden to mark the 70th anniversary of the city's liberation in World War II. The Hereditary Grand Ducal Couple first attended a mass at the local Église des Trinitaires followed by the lightning of eleven candles for the American soldiers who died fighting for Vianden's freedom. The Hereditary Grand Duke and the Hereditary Grand Duchess also placed a wreath of flowers at the Second World War memorial in Place de la Résistance and visited a photography exhibition at the town hall showing the city's reconstruction after the war.

More pictures of Thursday night at Wort in German and Wort in English.

Government Birthday Gifts for Hans-Adam and Marie

Liechtenstein's government announced today that on the occasion of the 70th birthday of Prince Hans-Adam II tomorrow and the 75th birthday of Princess Marie on April 14, they will donate 100,000 Swiss francs (which is about 94,000 Euros or 107,000 US Dollars) to the International Committee of the Red Cross instead of giving gifts to the Princely Couple. This has been a tradition for many years. The money will be used to help people in Eastern Ukraine.

Guillaume and Stéphanie to Visit Middle East

Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume accompanied by Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie will lead an economic mission to United Arab Emirates and Qatar in March of this year. The couple and their accompanying delegation will travel to Dubai and Doha between March 1 and 5.

Prince Hans-Adam, His Birthday and a Bejewelled Wedding Gift

On Saturday, Prince Hans-Adam II will celebrate his 70th birthday. Already tomorrow, there will be a reception hosted at Schloss Vaduz. The Prince will celebrate his actual birthday together with his family. In an interview with 1 FL TV he revealed that "my children, grandchildren and some of my siblings will be there. I believe there will be a cake according to an old recipe by Julie." 

Julie is Julie Hahnl, who started to work for the Princely Family in 1926 at the age of 15 when she was hired as a kitchen maid for Jagdschloss Thalhof in Lower Austria. After the death of Prince Johann II, she worked for Prince Franz I and became chef after five years. After the wedding of Prince Franz Josef II and Princess Gina, she moved to Liechtenstein with the couple. Even after her retirement, she continued to occasionally cook for the Princely Family. So in the end, she worked for four Fürsten of Liechtenstein.

To mark Prince Hans-Adam's birthday, Swiss TV SRF showed a very short biography of his life. Most interestingly, it features footage of Prince Hans-Adam as a young boy together with his parents and brothers Philipp and Nikolaus, a newborn Hereditary Prince Alois, and him playing together with his siblings Max, Constantin and Tatjana around Schloss Vaduz.

And jewellery loving me couldn't help but notice the following shot from Prince Hans-Adam's and Princess Marie's wedding. Upon her marriage, Princess Marie was gifted with a sapphire and diamond necklace that could be converted into a tiara by Liechtenstein's government. I always wondered what said gift looked like and I guess I finally have the answer:

Or maybe it's another wedding gift!? Anyhow, it's too bad we've (to the best of my knowledge) never seen it worn.

Slovenian President Visits Luxembourg

© Photo 2015 Cour grand-ducale

Yesterday, the President of Slovenia was on a working visit to the Grand Duchy. While in Luxembourg, he met with Grand Duke Henri at the Palais Grand-Ducal.

President Cerar also had the opportunity to meet with his Luxembourgish counterpart to discuss bilateral cooperation and Luxembourg's upcoming EU presidency. The Slovenian president also made a point to discuss greater cooperation between the small(ish) EU states like Luxembourg and Slovenia.

Margaretha and Nikolaus in Brussels

View image | gettyimages.com

Princess Margaretha and Prince Nikolaus were in Brussels today where they attended a mass to commemorate the deceased members of the Belgian Royal Family at the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwkerk or Église Notre-Dame depending on which of Belgium's major languages you prefer. The mass takes place every February and Princess Margaretha always makes it a priority to be there. Of course she is closely related to Belgium's royal family but it probably also plays a role that Prince Nikolaus' and Princess Margaretha's eldest son, Prince Léopold, who died only a few hours after his birth, is also buried at the church in Laeken.

More pictures of the mass today are available at PPE.