Birthday Celebrations

On 5 January 2011 Grand Duke Jean will celebrate his ninth decade. A gala concert will be held to mark the occasion. Most of The Grand Ducal Family is scheduled to attend the event.

The Philharmonic Orchestra of Luxembourg will play Mozart's Symphony No. 41 (Jupiter) in C major and Beethoven's Symphony No. 8 in F major. The youth orchestra of the UGDA (Union Grand-Duc Adolphe) will also preform.

Tickets to the concert were offered to the general public at no charge. Unfortunately the event is already sold out.

Luxemburger Wort indicates that all of the children and grand children of Grand Duke Jean will be in attendance. I assume that their respective spouses will also be in attendance. I have listed these individuals  for the benefit of those less familiar with the extended family. I really doubt that Louis' sons or the youngest child of Guillaume will attend. Would you try sit through Mozart and Beethoven with a seven year old at 10pm?

     1. The Grand Duke ∞ The Grand Duchess
         1.1.The Hereditary Grand Duke
          1.2. Prince Félix
           1.3. Prince Louis ∞ Princess Tessy
            1.4. Princess Alexandra
             1.5. Prince Sébastien

     2. Princess Marie-Astrid ∞ Archduke Carl-Christian of Austria
         2.1. Archduchess Marie-Christine ∞ Count Rodolphe de Limburg-Stirum
          2.2. Archduke Imre
           2.3. Archduke Christoph
            2.4. Archduke Alexander
             2.5. Archduchess Gabriella

     3. Prince Jean ∞ Diane
         3.1. Princess Marie-Gabrielle
          3.2. Prince Constantin
           3.3. Prince Wenceslas
            3.4. Prince Carl

    4. Princess Margaretha ∞ Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein
        4.1. Princess Maria-Anunciata
         4.2. Princess Marie-Astrid
          4.3. Prince Josef

     5. Prince Guillaume ∞ Princess Sibilla
         5.1. Prince Paul Louis
          5.2. Prince Léopold
           5.3. Princess Charlotte
            5.4. Prince Jean

For those of you interested in unmarried princes...In addition to your regularly scheduled Guillaume and Félix watching, I recommend keeping your eyes open for their cousins. The grandsons of Grand Duke Jean hit the genetic lotto. They are much better looking than all those other "hot" princes I've been seeing on lists this week.  Maybe I should put together a proper list? Team Imre!

Guillaume at Autumn Fair

Today, the Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume attended the opening of the Autumn Fair Luxembourg, an international consumer fair for house construction, furnishing and decoration.

The Luxembourgish minister for Economy and Foreign Trade, Guillaume's usual companion for such events, Jeannot Krecké, wearing an interesting kind of arm brace, delivered the opening speech. Together they went on to visit different stands, among them the one of Villeroy & Boch where children could paint their own china plate.

Wort offers a larger gallery of pictures.


Sources: Wort, Cour Grand-Ducale

New Members of the Chamber...

The Grand Duke received the new members of the Chamber of Deputies. Are you sure they're new? I recognize all their names and faces...

The occasion was the opening the the 2010/2011 parliamentary season.

The Grand Duke also sent a letter to the President of Chile. He and The Grand Duchess were moved by the plight of the miners and wished to express their happiness at the recent rescues.

50th Anniversary

On Tuesday, Maria Teresa attended the 50th anniversary of the International Bazaar. The bazaar is a wonderful event that raises money for various charities. This year the finest products of more than 53 countries are being sold to raise funds for more than 100 worthy causes. The bazaar is expected to raise an excess of 500,000 Euro.

The website of the International Bazaar features an extensive slideshow. The photos span five decades. I noted many photographs of Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and the beautiful Princess Marie-Astrid.

Maria Teresa looked fantastic! I thought she also looked very youthful. :)

Mark your calendars...

Guillaume will visit the Abu Dhabi, UAE after the New Year (17-20 January 2011). Minister Krecké and Guillaume will attend the World Future Energy Summit. The summit will focus on green technologies, renewable energy and environmental issues. This will be Luxmebourg's first time at the WFES.

World Expo**

Today was Luxembourg Day at the World Expo in Shanghai. The Grand Duke and the indefatigable Minister Jeannot Krecké were on hand to mark the occasion. The expo is credited with being an excellent advertising tool for Luxembourg and businesses based there. More than 100 Luxembourg based businesses currently use the pavilion to make contacts with new customers and Chinese companies.

The expo is winding down soon. The Gëlle Fra will finally be on her way back to Place de la Constitution.

RTL has another lovely gallery of photos of the two events covered during the visit. The government website provides a more detailed description of the day and its importance.

Ten Years...**

Ten years ago today Grand Duke Jean signed the act of abdication. With this simple act he ended his 36 year reign. At that moment, Son Altesse Royale le Grand-Duc héritier became le Grand-Duc de Luxembourg and young Prince Guillaume became le Prince Héritier de Luxembourg*.

Little more than two months later le Grand-Duc formally bestowed the title and position of le Grand-Duc Héritier on le Prince Héritier. With this action Guillaume was formally recognized as heir to the throne and the family trust. This not only cemented Guillaume's position as heir (not like that was ever in doubt) it allowed Guillaume to take up the necessary responsibilities.

Despite a few bumps along the road Henri is a stellar grand duke. The family remains popular. I certainly have respectful and warm feelings toward them.

Wort has a gallery of visuals covering Henri's enthronement and the first decade of his reign. RTL went all out with photos, sound bites and a wonderful interview with Henri (in Luxembourgish) marking the 10th anniversary of his reign. Ademar prepared several pages covering the events of 2000. Several magazines in Luxembourg have commemorative issues available in print to mark the anniversary (Revue, et al...). Promi, on the other hand, decided that this would be an excellent time to start pre-sales of their "scandalous" book on the Grand Ducal Family (yawn).

Wort provides a nice interview with Henri. I've had the link set on auto-translate for you. I found it interesting that he said he and Guillaume do not always agree on their vision for Luxembourg. The article provides some other interesting links.

*le Prince Héritier is the official styling of the heir to reigning Grand Duke (or Grand Duchess) prior to their creation as le Grand-Duc Héritier. The title le Prince Héritier is automatic while le Grand-Duc Héritier is not. 

The New and Improved Official Website...with Twitter and Facebook

The Cour Grand-Ducale has updated their website. It is now easier to navigate and more attractive. Sadly, as I write this, they haven't updated any of the biographical information or provided new information/pictures. I know that French is the written language of the Luxembourg government but I'd love to see the website come online in the other languages of The Grand Duchy.

You can also now follow the Cour Grand-Ducale on twitter and facebook. I'm following them on my blog twitter account (I don't personally tweet). The facebook "like" wasn't working when I checked it earlier. I think I'll pass on joining the facebook. I'm weary of having the Cour Grand-Ducale be able to associate my real identity with my Luxembourg aficionado status. Besides, I'm sure they could live without knowing that I like festive holiday socks.

Check out the new website! Pop on over to twitter and so that you can follow the latest tweets (when they start tweeting). You can like them on facebook if you're cool with them being able to view whatever name you have your account under.

If Google Chrome is your browser of choice (it is mine) the new website will appear a mess. It looks great on Firefox and Internet Explorer.

I'm working on the other updates from earlier in the week. I was so excited when I saw the new website that I had to spread the news first!

Celebrations and Prayers...

On 1 October, Guillaume was styling in some serious headgear at the centennial celebrations of ArcelorMittal in Bissen. Guillaume seems to be the go-to guy for anniversary celebrations.

Later in the week (3-5 October), Guillaume and Maria Teresa attended the International Meeting for Prayer and Peace. The meeting was hosted by Sant'Egidio in Barcelona, Spain. Thanks to the good folks at Hola and RTL we have several different photos. I'll post a link for this issue of Hola when it becomes available on youkioske.

Meet, greet and commemorate....

The Grand Duke held a private audience for veterans of the Korean War. Around the same time a memorial was also unveiled.

Sunday was the commemoration of victims of WWII. The Grand Duke, The Prime Minister, The Archbishop and other dignitaries were present.