Luxarazzi 101: the Congo Diamond Necklace Tiara

The tiara as a necklace

Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie chose her family's heirloom tiara to anchor her veil on her wedding day, if she hadn't done so, she would have most likely opted for this gem: the Congo Diamond Necklace Tiara. 

Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Princess Margaretha and Princess Marie-Astrid

As the name suggests, the tiara is a convertible necklace and was made by Van Cleef and Arpels. It was a wedding gift to Princess Joséphine-Charlotte upon her marriage to Hereditary Grand Duke Jean by the Belgian colony of Congo in 1953.

The tiara was worn by Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte herself as well as Grand Duchess Maria-Teresa, Princess Marie-Astrid and Princess Margaretha on their wedding days. The only granddaughter of Grand Duchess Joséphine Charlotte yet to be married, Archduchess Marie-Christine, decided to wear another of the family's tiaras, the smaller one of the two diamond floral tiaras.

Apart from the aforementioned weddings, the piece isn't worn as a tiara very often. Both Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte and Grand Duchess Maria-Teresa seem(ed) to prefer it as a necklace, which is all too understandable as it resembles a bandeau and his hard to wear with elaborate hairstyles.

On display together with a matching bracelet

As it was a wedding gift, the tiara was personal property of Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte. When she died in 2005, the family apparently had some troubles dividing her belongings and thus decided to auction of some of her jewellery. This tiara was among the pieces to be auctioned of.

When the news became public, there was an outcry in the Grand Duchy and so the Grand Duke decided to cancel the sale.  Thus, the Congo Diamond Necklace Tiaras was luckily saved from leaving the family, though sadly a lot of other jewellery was still sold of, it was simply done in quieter fashion and with less substantial - basically tiaras - pieces.

New Ambassador from the UAE

Two days ago, Sulaiman Hamed al Mazrouei from the United Arab Emirates presented his credentials as his country's new ambassador to the Grand Duke. Mr Al Mazrouei is also serving as UAE ambassador to Belgium and the European Union. This is quite common, if my memory serves me right, there are only about 20-something countries that have resident ambassadors to the Grand Duchy. Luxembourg is also represented by Belgian or Dutch embassies in many other countries.


Source: Zawya

Reception at Berg **

Photo: Armand Wagner /
Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa as well as Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie welcomed members of the Luxembourgish army and the police at the Château de Berg today. All the soldiers and policemen participated humanitarian and peacekeeping missions, specifically KFOR and ISAF, this year.

Luxembourgish forces have been part of the NATO-led KFOR (Kosovo Force) since January 2000. A few years ago, Princess Tessy served time in the South-Eastern European country as part of one of the missions and it is actually where she met her prince when he was visiting the troops. Since July 2003, Luxembourg is also taking part in another NATO mission, the Afghanistan-based ISAF (International Security Assistance Force).

Photo: Armand Wagner /
Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

The reception traditionally take place every year just before Christmas at the residence of the Grand Ducal Family. Policemen and soldiers who have taken part in two two above mentioned missions as well as their wives, girlfriends, children, parents and basically everyone you want to bring are invited to attend. During the reception the guests mingled with the Grand Ducal as well as the Hereditary Grand Ducal couples at the grand dining room and the ceremonial hall.

A gallery of visuals is available at Wort.


Sources: Cour grand-ducale, Wort, Lëtzebuerger Arméi

Water Management and Sustainability

Currently the Grand Duke's brother Prince Jean is participating in the "Verbier Investment Forum 2012" in - surprise, surprise - Verbier, Switzerland. Yesterday, the prince gave a keynote speech about "The global water challenge" and today he took part in two Q&As, one of them about "The global water challenges – local perspectives and efforts".

Prince Jean owns a couple of companies and works as CEO for another few. A couple of years ago, he founded MEA AQUA, a company specialised in water services and management solutions for Africa and the Middle East. For more information about the prince's working life, have a look at the website of VerbierGPS.

A picture of Prince Jean giving his speech yesterday, can be found on Twitter. If you are further interested, it might be a good idea to generally have a look at the Twitter feed of VerbierGPS as they have a couple of quotes by the prince and more information about the event.


Source: VerbierGPS

Grand Duke Welcomes Head of WHO

Today, Grand Duke Henri welcomed Margaret Chan, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), at the palais for an audience. The WHO is a part of the United Nations and deals with international public health. A picture can be found on the website of the cour.


Source: Cour grand-ducale

Catching Up...

The grand ducal family was pretty busy during the last couple of days attending various events and so were we with our work, so let's try to catch up with the latest events that haven't been previously been covered on the blog.

On November 29th, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa toured "The Venice Biennale Projects 1988-2011" exhibition at the Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, also known as MUDAM. Picture galleries can be found at RTL and Wort.

On December 1st, the Grand Duchess and her sister-in-law Princess Margaretha visited the Cercle Artistique at the CarréRotondes in Hollerich. The art exhibitions take place twice a year. It is one of the patronages of Grand Duchess Maria Teresa who also gives out the annual Prix Grand-Duc Adolphe to artists exhibiting at the Cercle Artistique. A gallery of visuals is available on the website of the cour.

On December 3rd, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa visited the Ganzdagsschoul Jean Jaurés in Esch-sur-Alzette. During her visit, the school was handed the Zesummen fir Integratioun award that honour institutions who work for the integration of handicapped children. For pictures have a look on the website of the cour and at Wort.

On December 4th, the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess celebrated the 60th anniversary of the European Court of Justice. It is the highest court in the European Union in matters of European Union law. Established in 1952, the court is situated in Luxembourg and headed by Vassilios Skouris, who - interesting fact - also attend the wedding of the hereditary grand ducal couple in October. Wort offers more information and a picture of the occassion.

Meanwhile, Tageblatt has published a few previously unseen pictures of Archduke Christoph and his fiancée Adelaide. In a press release Christoph parents also confirmed the wedding dates once again: the civil wedding will take place on Friday, December 28th, at 5pm at the town hall of Nancy and the religious wedding a day later at 11am at the Basilique Saint-Epvre.


Source: Cour grand-ducale, Wort, RTL

Maria Teresa and Stephanie Support Children's Charity

Yesterday, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and her new daughter-in-law Princess Stephanie, the Hereditary Grand Duchess attended a concert to benefit SOS Children's Villages. This was the first engagement that the royal ladies have undertaken together without their spouses. Princess Stephanie was, however, accompanied by an enormous scarf.

Photo: Marc Wilwert / Luxemburger
Wort / Wort.lu

The event featuring the music of Mendelssohn, Strauss and Schumann will benefit the organization's activities in Cape Verde. The funds raised will support 160 families that include 540 children. This will surely meet with the approval of Luxembourg's very large immigrant population, Cape Verdeans are one of the largest immigrant groups within the Grand Duchy.  The living conditions of people living outside of the tourist areas of Cape Verde are shocking. People lack access to clean water and basic sanitation.

The Grand Duchess is a patroness of the organization.

Click on photo to view larger version. 


Sources: Luxemburger Wort, OPL, Philharmonie Luxembourg. SOSVE

Two Couples at "Atelier Luxembourg"

Today it was time for the first post-wedding engagement of Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie in Luxembourg itself. Together with her husband and her parents-in-law she visited the Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’art contemporain to view an exhibition titled "Atelier Luxembourg – Making of".

Photo: Guy Jallay / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

The exhibition is composed of works by Yann Annicchiarico, Leonora Bisagno, David Brognon (The Plug), Stina Fisch, Julie Goergen, Sophie Jung, Vera Kox, Philippe Nathan, Roland Quetsch, Letizia Romanini, Sté Ternes, SUMO, Steve Veloso and Jeff Weber. Together with those 14 young Luxembourgish artists, Grand Duke Henri, Grand Duchess Maria-Teresa, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie toured the exhibition and later sat down together for a drink and a chat.

Galleries of visuals are available at Wort and on the website of the always rocking Manuel Dias.


Source: Wort

Bazar Internationale

Photo: Anouk Antony /
Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

Today was the first of two days of the Bazar Internationale at LuxExpo and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and her sister-in-law Princess Margaretha toured the stands. The two discovered 65 stalls and information desks from 60 countries. The Grand Duchess is the patron of the event.

The benefits of the 52nd edition of the bazaar will go to some 98 charities around the world, so should you be in or around the Grand Duchy tomorrow, take your chance to discover culinary specialities, traditional goods and crafts from around the world and, by buying them, help out people in need.

A gallery of visuals is available over on the website of Wort.


Source: Wort

It's Official: Imperial Wedding in Nancy

Rumour had it for quite a while, but now it is official: Archduke Christoph, son of Archduke Carl-Christian of Austria and Princess Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg, and his fiancée Adélaïde Drapé-Frisch are getting married in Nancy. The civil wedding ceremony will take place on December 28th, a day later on December 29th the couple will tie the knot at he basilica of St. Epvre, the local bishop Monseigneur Papin will celebrate the union.

Photo: Alexandre Marchi

Christoph and Adélaïde have known each other for five years and are living in Geneva, Switzerland, where he is working in finance and she attending university to obtain a master in psychology. The couple got engaged quite a while ago and made it official almost a year ago at the same time as Christoph's brother Archduke Imre and his now wife Katie.

In an interview with Le Républicain Lorraine, the couple revealed that when they decided to get married, they looked at different options about where it would be. They wanted to get married in a place that would make sense for both of their families. Neither Brussels, Paris nor other cities that they first thought about met the criteria; members of their families then suggested Nancy.

When Archduke Christoph and French diplomat's daughter Adélaïde visited the town, it became obvious to them that it would be the perfect choice. Christoph tells that Nancy and Lorraine will always have a special place in the heart of his family, the Habsbourg-Lorraine's. He adds that the late Archduke Otto, who got married in Nancy in 1951, always told the family that they should never forget the place.

Less than a month to go, the preparation are fully under way: the couple just visited Nancy to prepare for their civil wedding with the town's mayor André Rossinot.

For those contemplating to go to Nancy for the wedding, there is good news. In the interview, the archduke says, "We wish for Lorraine to accompany us, the doors will be open." The bride-to-be Adélaïde also wishes for a little bit of snow on the wedding day. Looking at pictures of stunning Nancy in winter that would pretty much make the fairytale setting complete...


Source: Le Républicain Lorraine