Bonjour Beijing - Trade Mission, Day 3

Photo: Luc Deflorenne / SIP

Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie are still on a mission - a trade mission, that is. The duo, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy, Etienne Schneider, and their accompanying delegation travelled to Beijing on the evening of the previous day - it's a bit confusing this (meaning the one in Beijing) is day 3 for Guillaume and Stéphanie while Minister Schneider is already on his fifth day in China. And then, May 6, they had a busy day in the Chinese capital.

The Luxembourgish delegation attended an economic seminar and a seminar to promote Luxembourg as a tourist destination. At the seminar entitled "Luxembourg: Your Innovation Centre in Europe", two cooperation agreements were signed between the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. They also had lunch with the Vice-President of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC). The day in Beijing and the trade mission was concluded by a reception hosted to celebrate 10 year anniversary of IEE, a Luxembourgish sensing systems manufacturer, in China.

The government website has more information as well as pictures.

Grand Duke Sees Pope Receive Charlemagne Prize

Photo: Casa de S.M. el Rey

Pope Francis received the Charlemagne Prize today and Grand Duke Henri was one of those attending the award ceremony at the Vatican. The International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen is considered one of the most prestigious European prizes and recognises distinguished services on behalf of European unity. The Pope was honoured for the message of peace and understanding promoted in his papacy with the jury stating, "In these times, in which many European citizens are seeking guidance, the Holy Father gives a message of love and encouragement."

The Charlemagne Prize is usually handed out in Aachen, the residence and burial place of the ruler of the Frankish Empire and founder of what became the Holy Roman Empire - and thus a forefather of European unity. However, this year the ceremony moved to the Vatican for the Holy Father. Other heads of state attending included King Felipe VI of Spain, German chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi, and the president of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaite, as well as various European dignitaries. Way more information about the Prize and the ceremony at the Official Vatican Network.

Fun fact: Grand Duke Henri is also awardee of the Charlemagne Prize - well, sort of... In 1986, the Charlemagne Prize was awarded to the people of Luxembourg for "their exemplary and persevering efforts in the interest of the union of the peoples of Europe". So basically every living Luxembourger born prior to the day is an awardee of the prestigious Charlemagne Prize. And so it's no surprise the Grand Duke actually wore the medal of the Prize for today's ceremony.

The Spanish court has a bunch more pictures, as does Getty Images.

More From Shanghai: Trade Mission, Day 2

Photo: Luc Deflorenne / SIP

Looks like the amount of photographers for the trade mission in China has increased by approximately 100 percent from Guillaume's recent trip to the United States: There's a photographer of the Service information et presse du gouvernement luxembourgeois (SIP), the information service of the Grand Duchy's government, travelling with Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie and their delegation. For us it means heaps of pictures. (Heaps in Luxembourgish terms that is.) 

On their second day in China, the Hereditary Grand Duke and Hereditary Grand Duchess took a tour of an automobile museum in Shanghai, visited the telecom manufacturer ZTE, hosted a reception at the Luxembourgish pavillon of the Expo 2010 and held talks with the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

Visuals of the day at Wort. Also check out our post on the first day.

Hello Shanghai: Trade Mission, Day 1

Photo: Luc Deflorenne / SIP

Let's check in with Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume's and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie's Chinese adventures, shall we? The first day of their stay in China saw the duo, accompanied by a delegation including Vice Prime Minister Etienne Schneider, visit Shanghai. The first leg of the trade mission in Hong Kong actually seems to have taken place in the absence of the Hereditary Grand Duke and Hereditary Grand Duchess. 

On Thursday night, the hereditary grand ducal couple attended a dinner with members of the Chinese group Fosun International, an international conglomerate and investment company, in Shanghai where they'll stay for another day. In the coming days, the trade delegation will also travel to Beijing.

A bunch of visuals on the website of the government.

Liechtenstein Tiara Watch in Stockholm

Photos: Sofia Svanholm

Time to marvel at some sparklers: King Carl XVI Gustaf's 70th birthday this weekend brought us one of the very rare sightings of the tiaras of the Princely Family. Hereditary Princess Sophie opted for her go-to tiara, the Habsburg Fringe Tiara, and I can't say I blame her, it's a beauty! (Though I'd really love to know how deep their vaults really are and if there are any other gems hiding in there.) Unfortunately, we did not get to see a Luxembourgish addition to the race of best tiara of the evening. 

However, what we did get was a bonus Liechtenstein tiara sighting - well, sort of: Turns out Hereditary Princess Sophie's parents, Duke Max and Duchess Elizabeth in Bavaria, were also among the guests of the birthday bash and naturally Duchess Elizabeth brought her Douglas Floral Tiara along for the party. It's the same tiara Hereditary Princess Sophie wore for her wedding in 1993.

For more tiara action, make sure to check out The Court Jeweller and Order of Splendor. Also have a look at Sofia Svanhom's blog and Flickr for loads of lovely pictures of the festivities.

Luxarazzi 101: Royal Recycling and Clothes Sharing Vol. 8

Aaaaand we are back! Again. Time for Royal Recycling and Clothes Sharing Volume 8. Yes, eight - because the lovely Lux ladies are simply unstoppable when it comes to sharing the love. It actually makes you wonder if they have get-togethers every once in a while with a bottle of bubbly or two when they just talk about who will get what clothes for the next (not so) major event. But I disgress...

Turns out our newbie from last time around, Princess Marie-Gabrielle, is actually a pro at the clothes sharing thing. The coat the daughter of Prince Jean wore for the 90th birthday celebrations of Grand Duke Jean in 2011 was repeated by her cousin Princess Alexandra for the 95th birthday celebrations five years later. (Thank you to our fab readers Avery for the spot!) Considering that the coat looks pretty vintage, it wouldn't be a surprise if we one day find another lady of the Grand Ducal Family who has worn the coat before.

And just to prove the point, Princess Marie-Gabrielle was at it again: When I looked through the other pictures of Grand Duke Jean's 90th birthday celebration, I noticed that during the lunch the next day, Prince Jean's only daughter wore a fur wrap that seemed pretty familiar. Do you remember the one we covered in Royal Recycling and Clothes Sharing Vol. 7 worn by Grand Duchess Maria Teresa during a 2007 state visit and by Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie in 2013? Well, turns out Princess Marie-Gabrielle also sported in back in 2011.

Completing our clothes sharing trio is actually a hat. Turns out that Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie didn't only have a clothes sharing moment with her coat today at the closing procession of this year's Octave of Our Lady of Luxembourg. Her hat has also been worn by another lady of the Grand Ducal Family. Princess Tessy sported the same (probably) Philip Treacy hat in 2012 also for the last day of the Octave celebrations.

P.S. For previous editions of this series, have a look here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Photos: Dana Press/Cour grand-ducale/EPA/Picture Press/SIP/Luc Deflorenne/RTL/RTL.lu

An Interview with Maria Teresa and Maggy Barankitse

Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and activist Maggy Barankitse have given an exclusive interview about their friendship and the humanitarian work that inspired it.

The women sat down together with Tageblatt to discuss how they met and how they continue to work together on human rights and women's rights issues, particularly as the result of war and humanitarian crises. Additionally, the Grand Duchess hinted at an important announcement.

More from Tageblatt. The interview was in the Saturday (4/30) edition of the newspaper.

Closing of the Octave of Our Lady of Luxembourg

Photo: Lex Kleren / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

This year's Octave celebration is a very special one as 2016 marks the 350th anniversary of the Consolatrix afflictorum (Comforter of the Afflicted, one of the titles of Our Lady from the Litany of Loreto) becoming the patroness of the city of Luxembourg. Unfortunately, this year saw a rather low turnout of members of the Grand Ducal Family who joined in the annual closing procession taking place on the fifth Sunday after Easter. (Note 1: There also was a mass this morning attended by the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess. Note 2: For more on the history of the Octave of Our Lady of Luxembourg, have a look at this Luxarazzi 101.)

However, of course we could count on our regular Luxembourg players to make the closing procession a priority: Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa were accompanied by Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie for the event. The Grand Duchess wore the same outfit as this morning (and thus giving us an explanation for the dresscode upgrade) and the Hereditary Grand Duchess went for a coat previously worn by herself, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and Princess Alexandra. (Quick note to the grand ducal ladies: It would be much appreciated if we could see another piece of clothing repeated in the near future, we already have two new examples of your royal recycling love - and we need a third one to publish our post. Much obliged.)

Photo: RTL / RTL.lu

On to the important things: The procession led the family and the other pilgrims from the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Luxembourg via the rue Notre-Dame, the rue Philippe II, the avenue de la Porte-Neuve, the rue Beaumont, the rue des Capucins, the Grand-rue, the rue du Marché-aux-Herbes, the rue de l'Eau back to the Cathédrale. As this year was a special Octave celebrations which marks the aforementioned 350th anniversary, the Pope was represented by a papal legate, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, Archbishop of Cologne. He and Luxembourgish Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich were joined by Apostolic Nuncio in Luxembourg, Giacinto Berloco, as well as the (Arch-)Bishops of Strasbourg, Cashel & Emly, Banja Luka, Aachen and Bucharest.

After the end of the procession and the final blessing at the Cathédrale, the members of the Grand Ducal Family made their way back to the palais by foot for their formerly only Balcony appearance of the year. (They did one at national day last year, too) The award for most avid waver (as in person who waves the most) this year - as in basically all years - goes to Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume. Maybe he can use that ability to signal some photographers to take pictures of him and his wife during their upcoming travels to China. That'd be much appreciated!

But before we had to the next trade mission, here are a few handy picture links with visuals of the day: Wort and RTL. In addition there is a video at RTL.

Octave Celebrations, Part 1

Photo: Lex Kleren / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

Get your calendars out - yes, it's indeed the fifth Sunday after Easter and so it's time for one of the Grand Duchy's major events of the year: the closing of the Octave of Our Lady of Luxembourg, Comforter of the Afflicted. (A.k.a. the reason why we saw nobody from Luxembourg in Sweden yesterday, but we still got a Luxarazzi tiara appearance courtesy of Liechtenstein, so check that out in case you haven't yet.) This afternoon will see a grand procession to mark the religious celebrations that is the closing of the Octave with likely heaps of children of the grand ducal couple in attendance.

This morning, however, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa flew solo for a ponitificial mass at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame. Pictures of the mass and the Grand Duchess upgrading the usual dress code to include a hat at Wort.

Alois and Sophie in Sweden

Photo: IBL

It turns out that Hereditary Prince Alois and Hereditary Princess Sophie were in Sweden for the celebrations to honor King Carl Gustaf's 70th birthday. Expressen listed them among the guests, and at least one photo seems to exist of them at the Te Deum, although the source of that photo remains elusive. We're on the hunt and will post as soon as we can find a source. Thanks to our enterprising readers for finding the photos, available here and here.

Fortunately, Twitter tends to come through when other sources fail, so if you look closely you can spot (a very tall) Alois and Sophie on the right side of the photo, behind King Philippe and Queen Mathilde. This image was taken at the banquet for the birthday celebrations.

Group Picture at Banquet for King Carl Gustaf's 70th Birthday #Kungen70 pic.twitter.com/xXz7WridWq

— Gert's Royals (@Gertsroyals) April 30, 2016