What's (Not) Making Headlines

Photo: Martinis Marchi

By far the biggest story of the day is that of Hartmut Lademacher, Princess Claire's father, and his Croatian castle. According to information of the German press agency DPA and reprinted by almost all of Luxembourg's newspapers (Wort, Tageblatt, L'essentiel, etc.) Mr Lademacher purchased a dilapidated castle and some other lands on the island of Šolta about ten years ago. He restored and transformed the castle into a hotel. He also heavily invested into the whole island making it a tourist attraction which attracts about 20,000 people per year now.

When all the work was completed, the state's forestry department claimed that the land was in its possession and that the local commune never had the authority to sell the land to Lademacher in the first place. While a local court recently ruled against a complaint by Lademacher, there is still hope for him as new laws came into effect earlier this year stating that a foreign buyer is allowed to keep land that he bought “in good faith” from a state institution. The father of Princess Claire isn't the only foreign investor who has had such troubles in Croatia during the last few years.

Turning to Belgium and not really headline-making news, Archduke Carl-Christian of Austria, husband of Princess Marie-Astrid, participated in the 2nd European Encounters "of active young Christians implicated in professional, family and associative life wishing to articulate the faith of their heart". The event took place in Brussels over the weekend and on Saturday morning, Archduke Carl-Christian gave a speech entitled "Culture – Blessed Charles of Austria, builder of the civilisation of love".

Probably sometime over the weekend, Princess Marie welcomed 16 children from the county of Maramureş in Romania at Schloss Vaduz. The children from disadvantaged families are currently on holiday in Liechtenstein thanks to the help of the Liechtenstein Red Cross that the Princess is president of. If you'd like to know more, check out these two ghetto-translated Romanian articles in the hope that you can make more sense of them than I. At times, at least.

Source: Wort, actualMM, European Encounters

Luxarazzi 101: Royal Recycling and Clothes Sharing Revisited

Photos: MECE / Cour grand-ducale

When Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie stepped out in a gown previously worn by her mother-in-law Grand Duchess Maria Teresa for a New York event earlier this year, it revived an old topic when it comes to the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg, clothes sharing between various members of the family. We have talked about this before and as the post continues to be a popular one, I thought we'd do so again.

Photos: Cour grand-ducale, Seeger Press, Getty Images, Point de Vue

Let's start by having a look at Luxembourg's queen of recycling that is Princess Marie-Astrid, or Archduchess Marie-Astrid if you like. One of her most frequently worn dresses is actually a gown once owned by her late mother, Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte, who wore it for an official portrait during the early 1990's. Princess Marie-Astrid got her hands on the dress sometime during the later half of the decade as she wore it for at least two events at that time before reusing it for the 40th birthday celebrations of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands in 2007 and for the joined birthday ball of Princess Maria Galitzine and Nina Peers de Nieuwbergh last year. I'm pretty sure those aren't the only times she sported this white and gold number.

Photos: Tom Wagner, Craig Spiering

While we will primarily focus on the clothes sharing part in today's post - cause let's face it, we all recycle clothes on a daily basis - this one is still worth sharing. While mere mortals would probably spent a few (more) bucks to get themselves new clothes for their children's wedding, Princess Marie-Astrid seem to prefer to recycle old ones for those occasions.

While we already talked about her attire for Archduchess Marie-Christine and Archduke Christoph's respective weddings the last time Luxarazzi went fashion, we recently discovered that the outfit from Archduke Imre's wedding is a repeat from the christening of Prince Léopold and Princess Charlotte, twin children of Prince Guillaume and Princess Sibilla.

Photos: Seeger Press, Tom Wagner

But Princess Marie-Astrid doesn't only like to recycle her own clothes or to wear out her mother's as she also seems to believe in sharing with her own daughter. In fact, Archduchess Marie-Christine wore one of her mother's dresses for the official 18th birthday celebrations of her cousin Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume in 2000.

Photos: Tom Wagner, Getty Images

Meanwhile the dress worn by Grand Duchess Maria Teresa on that night at the Château de Vianden reappeared a few years later on her only daughter Princess Alexandra, who wore it with a different scarf at her parents silver wedding anniversary celebrations in 2006.

Photo: Bildbyra, Cour grand-ducale, Point de Vue

Some of the outfits even make rounds on more than two ladies of the Grand Ducal Family. The blush pink dress worn by Princess Alexandra and Princess Tessy during recent years seems to be the same one as worn by Grand Duchess Maria Teresa at the wedding of Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway in 2001.

Photos: Tom Wagner, Vaterland

But Grand Duchess Maria-Teresa does not only seem to share her clothes with her daughter and daughters-in-law but also her sister-in-law Princess Margaretha. While this (presumably) Natan number was first worn by the Grand Duchess during a state visit to Slovakia in 2005, it later appeared on Princess Margaretha when her son trooped the colour in London.

After watching Grand Duchess Maria-Teresa's dressing habits for a few years now, I can tell you that she wears most of her outfits for two or three publicised events before retiring them to private life, just as it is the case for many European royal ladies. I presume that a similar pattern could have been found for Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte back in the day.

Now, all of these clothes are expensive and well-made, so I don't think it is out of question that the Grand Duchess (or other royal ladies for that matter -- check out Order of Splendor to see who actually does so) calls her family and friends to ask whether they'd like a dress, a suit or something else out of her closet before emptying it out.

As for Liechtenstein? I don't know. Apart from Princess Maria-Anunciata rummaging in a certain aunt's wardrobe and Princess Isabelle's overrepeated 90's gowns (thumbs up for still fitting into them 20 or so years later though), I simply haven't been following them long enough to see such patterns.

Photos: Getty Images / Tom Wagner / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu / Cour grand-ducale / Pierre Matge

Another thing I noticed though: Do you get a discount if you buy two or more of the same dresses in different colours?

National Commemoration Day

Photo: M.Kater / RTL / RTL.lu

Today is Luxembourg's national day of commemoration which takes place every year on the Sunday closest to October 10. On that day in 1941, the German occupiers took a survey of Luxembourgish civilians who were asked about their nationality, mother tongue and racial group expecting them to answer all those question with 'German' but contrary to expectations, about 95% of those asked filled 'Luxembourgish' into the gaps. The refusal to declare themselves as German citizens led to mass arrests among the population.

To mark the day, masses and wreath laying ceremonies take place all over the country. Grand Duke Henri particpated in a religious service held the at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame and afterwards laid a wreath at the Monument vun der nationaler Solidaritéit on the Kanounenhiwwel where he also relit the eternal flame before visiting the insides of the memorial.

Tageblatt has a gallery of pictures of the day, as does the cour grand-ducale. Meanwhile RTL a video.

Source: RTL

Guillaume and Stéphanie in Strasbourg

Photo: Daniel Clarens / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

Aujourd'hui Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie visited the French town of Strasbourg where they had lunch with a group of some 150 students currently participating in the 29th edition of the Réunion Européenne des Etudiants Luxembourgeois (REEL). The REEL in an annually held event that brings together Luxembourgish students from around the world in a European city to talk topicalities, problems and ideas related to being a student from the Grand Duchy.

Wort in German, Wort in French, Wort in English, the cour grand-ducale and L'essentiel have a few more visuals of the Hereditary Grand Duke and the Hereditary Grand Duchess meeting with the Luxembourgish students in France.

Source: Wort, REEL

Today in Luxembourg

Photo: Guy Jallay / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

This morning, the Grand Duke did not have one but two dates in his calendar for one of which he was accompanied by his wife, the Grand Duchess.

At first Luxembourg's head of state attended the opening of the annual autumn fair, a trade show dedicated to the construction, renovation, decoration and design with more than 400 exhibitors, at the LuxExpo in Kirchberg. For a few visuals, have a look at Wort in German and Tageblatt.

Just one and a half hours later, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria-Teresa participated in an academic session to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the University of Luxembourg at the Cercle Cité. Once again, Wort in German offers a gallery of visuals of the event.

Source: Wort, CGD

Union Grand-Duc Adolphe

Photo: Guy Jallay / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

Last night, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria-Teresa attended a a service to mark the 150th anniversary of the Union Grand-Duc Adolphe (UGDA) at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame which included a concert by the British choir Wells Cathedral School Choralia. The UGDA is the umbrella organisation for all kinds of musical groups in Luxembourg such as choral societies, brass bands, music schools, theatrical societies, folklore associations and instrumental groups and has over 17,000 individual members.

Founded as the Allgemeiner Luxemburger Musikverein (ALM) on September 6, 1863, it is known as the birthplace of Luxembourg's national anthem which was firstly played during one of their concerts. After its decline during the 1880's, the ALM was revived as the Adolph-Verband on March 31, 1891 and placed under the high patronage of Grand Duke Adolph. In 1919 the name was changed from German to French and the organisation became known as Union Adolphe and, in 1947, Union Grand-Duc Adolphe.

For more pictures of yesterday's concert, have a look at Wort in English.

Source: Wort, UGDA

Heirs at Work

Photo: Conseil d'État

In his capacity as a member of the Council of State of Luxembourg, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume participated in a conference of the councils of state of the Benelux countries yesterday. The main topic of the gathering was to talk how to implement normative acts of the European Union into national law. Another picture of the event can be found here.

Also yesterday but in Liechtenstein, Hereditary Prince Alois attended a ceremonial act to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Princely Supreme Court which coincided with the 70th birthday of its president and so Vaterland's article strangely mainly concentrates on that, though I have to give them that he had a very interesting career working as window cleaner, petrol attendant and scaffolder before becoming the Principality's highest judge. Anyway, a few pictures of the event are located at Vaterland and 1 FL TV has a video about the event which includes an interview with the Hereditary Prince.

Source: PaperJam, Vaterland

Interview with the Hereditary Prince

Man, those Liechtenstein's give a lot of interviews... While everyone is still waiting for that promised interview of Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie to be published sometime this fall, Hereditary Prince Alois has sat down with the Austrian newspaper Wiener Zeitung to talk all kinds of financial topics related to the Principality. 

The Hereditary Prince says that the country is still happy with the Swiss franc and that a change to the Euro is out of question as a termination of the currency treaty with Switzerland won't find a majority. The same goes for a possible entry into the European Union by Liechtenstein as that would mean a termination of the costums treaty with Switzerland which also isn't supported by the country's majority. For the whole interview, please have a look at the Wiener Zeitung, originally in German but dutifully set on (ghetto-) English by me for you.

Source: Wiener Zeitung

Monday Night Out

Photo: Romain Schanck /
Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

On Monday night, Prince Guillaume and Princess Sibilla attended an ethics lecture by finance expert Theo Vermaelen at the Abbaye de Neumünster. The Edmond Israel Memorial Lecture was jointly organised by the University of Luxembourg, the Luxembourg School of Finance and Clearstream.

During his lecture the professor of finance at INSEAD, or Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires because you know I love long French names, business school argued that banking ethics should not be based on subjective and emotional notions of what is right or wrong, but instead on a contractual approach of both explicit and implicit contracts. If you are interested in the matter, have a look at Wort's English-language article about it to learn more. 

Source: Wort

Bavarian Inheritance (Speculation)

Photo: Obermain-Tagblatt

Hereditary Princess Sophie and her youngest son Prince Nikolaus visited the Banz Abbey, a former Benedictine monastery north of Bamberg in the German state of Bavaria, earlier this week. The reason for their visit was the fact that the Hereditary Princess recently inherited 900 hectares of land from her father, Duke Max in Bavaria.

Founded in 1069 by Countess Alberada of Schweinfurt and her husband, Count Hermann of Habsberg-Kastl, Banz Abbey was acquired by Duke Wilhelm in Bavaria in 1814, eleven years after it was secularised and dissolved. Over the years, the Duke turned the former abbey into a summer residence and it became known as Banz Castle which remained in the hands of the dukes in Bavaria until 1933 when Duke Ludwig Wilhelm sold it to the the missionary order of the Alliance of the Holy Angels. It seems, however, that they only sold the castle but not the property surrounding it, which was now inherited by Hereditary Princess Sophie.

A traditional estate of the Wittelsbach branch of the Dukes in Bavaria, it is likely that Princess Sophie's father inherited the land surrounding the abbey in 1968 upon the death of aforementioned Duke Ludwig Wilhelm (though the title Duke in Bavaria had to wait as it first passed to Duke Luitpold, a cousin of Ludwig Wilhelm). Being the son of Duke Albrecht of Bavaria, himself son of the last Crown Prince of Bavaria, Rupprecht and his first wife née Duchess Marie-Gabriele in Bavaria, and his wife née Countess Maria Draskovich of Trakostjan, he was born a prince of Bavaria but later adopted as an adult by his great-uncle Duke Ludwig-Wilhelm, who was a brother of Duchess Marie-Gabriele. 

[Still with me? I know, royal genealogy can be confusing... Wanna know what? Crown Prince Rupprecht's second wife was Princess Antonia of Luxembourg, sister of Grand Duchess Charlotte, which makes Duke Max and Grand Duke Henri step-second cousins, apart from the 50,000 -- No, I did not count. -- other relations they have.]

On to a little more confusing genealogy... Duke Max in Bavaria is also the heir of his older brother, Duke Franz of Bavaria, who does not have any children. Duke Max has five daughters of whom Hereditary Princess Sophie is the oldest. As both branches of the Wittelsbach family only allow males to inherit, the title of the Duke of Bavaria is bound to go, via Duke Max and his second cousin Prince Luitpold, to Prince Ludwig of Bavaria (*1982), son of Prince Luitpold, himself the only son of Prince Ludwig of Bavaria (1913–2008) and Princess Irmingard of Bavaria, daughter of Crown Prince Rupprecht and Princess Antonia of Luxembourg and thus half-sister of Duke Albrecht.

For a few years now, royal watchers have speculated what will happen to the Duke in Bavaria title eventually. You see, Germany might have abolished the privileges and such of the nobility but their former titles are still reflected in their surnames. While Duke Franz is legally 'Franz Prinz von Bayern', his brother is legally 'Max Herzog in Bayern' as he was adopted by her person who had that last name. Long story short, the fact that Hereditary Princess Sophie (and possibly also her sisters) inherited land from her father made me wonder whether other inheritance questions might have also been settled and whether Duke Max has or is about to adopt another male member of the Wittelsbach family to, one day, carry on the title of the Duke in Bavaria which is lower than that as the Duke of Bavaria who is also the head of the Wittelsbach family as a whole.

As a sidenote, while Hereditary Princess Sophie might not the eligible to inherit her father's or uncle's title, she is bringing the Jacobite claim to the thrones of England, Scotland, Ireland and France to Liechtenstein though I'm not sure whether she will ever actually claim them. While that one is not sure, it is sure that the Hereditary Princess won't change much in the management of the 860 hectares of forest and 40 hectares of agricultural land she was given by her father telling the local paper that she simpy visited to get an overview and become acquainted with the area.

Source: Bad Staffelstein, Obermain-Tagblatt