Fashion Focus : September 23rd - October 22nd

On September 23rd, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa attended an event celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Collège Médical, she wore her fuschia Paule Ka dress.

Photo: Collège médical / Vincent Flamion

Photo: Paule Ka

On September 24th, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa attended the official opening of Centre Pour le Développement des Apprentissages "Grande Duchesse Maria Teresa". She wore a Paule Ka top with a matching Paule Ka jacket.

Photo: Cour grand-ducale / Sophie Margue / tous droits réservés

Photo: Paule Ka

Photo: Paule Ka

Later in the day, she joined Grand Duke Henri to open the Maison du Livre. She wore an Armani dress that she already owns in orange.

Photo: Cour grand-ducale / Marion Dessard / tous droits réservés

Photo: Armani

Hereditary Princess Sophie attended an academic session organised by her foundation. I think she might have been wearing an Emilio Pucci dress (similar dress pictured).

Photo: IKR

Photo: Lyst

On September 30th, the Grand Ducal family attended the wedding of Countess Anna of Arco-Zinnerberg and Colin McKenzie in Bavaria. Grand Duchess Maria Teresa wore a new dress by Carolina Herrera.

Photo: PNP.de

Photo: Carolina Herrera

Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie wore the same outfit she wore on the first day of the Dutch State Visit to Luxembourg earlier this year: a Natan dress and a Les Folies Bibis hat.

Photo: Bunte

Photo: Natan

Photo: Les Folies Bibis

Princess Claire wore a Michael Kors dress.

Photo: Bunte

Photo: Boozt

On October 13th, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa attended the first "Lux4Good" hackathon. She wore a new Etro top with a Fendi bag.

Photo:  Cour grand-ducale / Sophie Margue

Photo: Harrods

Photo: Lyst

Meanwhile, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie attended the 2018 Home & Living Expo where Stéphanie wore a Paule Ka dress and a Paule Ka jacket.

Photo: Marie De Decker

Photo: Paule Ka

Photo: Paule Ka

On October 14th, members of the Grand Ducal family went to vote in the general election. Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie wore a new Karen Millen coat (with thanks to @polkapoppins)

Photo: Cour grand-ducale / Charles Caratini

Photo: Karen Millen

Württemberg/Andigné Wedding

Photo: Münchner Abendzeitung

On Saturday, Duchess Sophie of Württemberg and Count Maximilien d'Andigné celebrated their religious wedding at Schloss Tegernsee in Bavaria. The bride is daughter of Duke Philipp of Württemberg and his wife née Duchess Marie-Caroline in Bavaria and thus a niece of Hereditary Princess Sophie. 

Photo: Merkur

So it is no surprise that the Hereditary Princess was among the guests of the nuptials accompanying her uncle Duke Franz of Bavaria, head of the Wittelsbach family, into the church. Naturally, Hereditary Princess Sophie's parents, Duke Max and Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria, were also present. While pictures are pretty hard to come by, we also spied two of Sophie's sons, Princes Georg (third from right in the first picture) and Nikolaus (for from left), at the wedding as well. I wouldn't be surprised if more Liechtensteins were present for the festivities. Keep your fingers crossed for some more and better pictures to come up sometime soon.

More pictures at Münchner Abendzeitung and Merkur.

Baby News: Another Girl for Imre and Katie

Archduke Imre, oldest son of Princess Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg, and Archduchess Kathleen welcomed their third child about a week ago. The baby girl called Juliana was born on October 14. She joins older sisters Maria-Stella and Magdalena in in the family home. Little Juliana is the 15th great-grandchild of Grand Duke Jean.

Weekly Roundup: Election Stuff, A Missing Beard and More

October 12 to 19, 2018

Let's catch up with everything royal that happened in Luxembourg and Liechtenstein this past week! As we are still trying to figure out how to improve the Weekly Roundup thing, let us know what you think and what you would like us to do differently. Simply leave us a comment below, send us an e-mail or contact us via social media. And now without much further ado...

Photo: Marie De Decker

On Saturday, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie were back in Luxembourg to visit the opening of the Home & Living Expo 2018. The fair focuses on decorating, design as well as architecture and features some 300 designers from the Greater Region, meaning Luxembourg plus the surrounding parts of Germany, France and Belgium with the couple possibly scooping up some ideas for their new London home. More pictures at the cour.

Photo: Cour grand-ducale / Charles Caratini

Guillaume continued to make us feel like it is 2008 all over again with his clean-shaven look when he joined Stéphanie for the Night of Museums on Saturday night. The duo visited the Villa Vauban, the Mudam and the Musée Drai Eechelen. Loads more pictures at the cour. Et mais oui, Team Beard all the way!

Photo: Cour grand-ducale / Sophie Margue

Meanwhile at the Technoport in Esch-Belval, Grand Duchess Maria-Teresa assisted at the first hackathon "Lux4Good" also on Saturday. The goal of a hackathon is to create usable software or hardware with the goal of creating a functioning product by the end of the event - or so Wikipedia says. This event brought together six teams competing for 24 hours, for good. Launched from scratch, the event aimed at bringing innovative ideas to life. Photos at the cour.

Photo: Cour grand-ducale / Charles Caratini

On Sunday, Grand Duke Jean, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie and Prince Félix made sure to cast their vote in the general election. (Why yes, they do.) I expect that the rest of the family also did via postal vote though Félix being there and his lovely wife not, probably means that Claire is not a Luxembourgish citizen (yet). Check the cour for more visuals.

Photo: Cour grand-ducale / Sophie Margue

The general election also meant that Grand Duke Henri was busy for the first half of the week meeting with the who is who of Luxembourgish politics including the President of Parliament, the Prime Minister and all heads of the parties that were elected into the national parliament. While his party didn't get the most votes, it looks like we will continue to see loads of Prime Minister Bettel on this blog as his coalition still has a majority in parliament and he has been mandated by the Grand Duke to form a government. Photos of all the audiences at the cour.

Photos: Solistes Européens Luxembourg (SEL)

On Monday, the Grand Duke attended the concert La machine de Mälzel et le métronome of the Solistes Européens Luxembourg (SEL) under the direction of Christoph König and with violin soloist Caroline Widmann. The cour has more.

Photo: Cour grand-ducale / Sophie Margue

On Tuesday, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess visited the opening of the exhibition "Sur l'eau / On Water" showing the works of photographers Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Philippe Bourseiller - and they look mighty happy doing so, see more at the cour.

Photo: Claude Sibenaler

Grand Duke Henri also enjoyed watching a round of tennis this week. On Wednesday, he was among the spectators of the quarter final match between Dayana Yastremska and Garbiñe Muguruza at the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open 2018, one of his patronages.

In other, non-visual news, Prince Louis' and Princess Tessy's divorce seem to be heading towards its finalisation. The couple were granted a decree nisi in February 2017 and the judge is expected to make a ruling in the near future. More at The Times.

While it has been relatively silent on the Liechtenstein front of things this week, Prince Hans-Adam II did pay a visit to Princeton University on Thursday to attend a seminar by the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination (LISD) entitled "The Future of Migration Within and From the African Continent: Lessons for Europe". Not pictures available yet.

The Aristocrats: A 1983 Documentary About the Princely Family

Photo: Screenshot BBC

This Week's Extra: If you have a bit of time on your hands, check out this documentary about the Princely Family we just stumbled over on Youtube. Entitled "The Aristocrats", it was broadcasted by the BBC in 1983 and includes interviews with Prince Franz Josef and Princess Gina, parents of the current Fürst. While Princess Gina speaks about coming to and living in Liechtenstein, Prince Franz Josef talks about meeting Adolf Hitler, among others. There are also interviews with Prince Hans-Adam, Princess Marie and Princess Nora included.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Weekly Roundup: An Anniversary, A Launch, Audiences and More

Back in September Prince Alexander of Liechtenstein attended the launch of Pomellato in Milan. He was accompanied by his wife Princess Astrid and their lovely young daughter Princess Theodora.

Getty Images/Daniele Venturelli

Hereditary Princess Sophie attended the launch of a book focused on the sacred cultural history of the Parish of St. Nicholas in Balzers, Liechtenstein.

Rudi Schachenhofer

Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume attended the 50th Anniversary of Miami University (Oxford, Ohio, USA) in Luxembourg. The university's Luxembourg campus hosts about 300 students from the Ohio campus each year. The Ohio campus in-turn hosts about 150 students from Luxembourg each year. During the celebrations the university honored the Hereditary Grand Duke with the Honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

Wort/Steve Eastwood

Hereditary Prince Alois met with the President of India and the Foreign Minister of India, among others. The parties discussed economic trade. The Hereditary Prince's visit marked the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations. 

Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie attended the Home and Living Expo in Kirchberg. The expo focuses on building and designing homes. 

Caroline Martin/Wort

The Grand Duke received Pierre Krahenbuhl of the UNRWA at the Grand Ducal Palace. 

Cour grand ducale

The Grand Duke received the credentials of the Ambassadors of Australia, Mexico, Angola and Trinidad and Tobago at the Grand Ducal Palace. 

Cour grand ducale

Weekly Roundup: Wedding Details, Unexpected Sightings and More

September 29 to October 5, 2018

Photos: Bunte

On Saturday, Countess Anna Theresa married Colin McKenzie in her Bavarian hometown. We already covered the wedding here. Thanks to a few new pictures which have surfaced in the printed media we can now give you a more complete rundown of which members of the Grand Ducal and Princely Families attended: In addition to the previously mentioned Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie, Archduchess Marie-Christine and husband Count Rodolphe de Limburg-Stirum as well as Princess Margaretha and Prince Nikolaus with Prince Josef, we also spied Prince Félix and Princess Claire, Archduke Carl-Christian and Archduchess Marie-Astrid, Princess Nora as well as Princess Anunciata and Princess Astrid (in a special dress). The Hereditary Grand Duke, who appeared without a beard for the first time in years, was one of the witnesses at the wedding.

On Monday, Hereditary Princess Sophie was supposed to attend an event on the occasion of European Depression Day. While there was info published in advance, we have not found any pictures or further reports yet.

Photo: Royal Family of Romania

On Monday and Tuesday, Princess Margareta, Custodian of the Crown of Romania, and husband Prince Radu were on a semi-official visit to Liechtenstein (or whatever you call it when non-reigning royals visit reigning royals and make it look official). Princess Margareta, the daughter of Romania's last king, and her husband met with Fürst Hans-Adam II, Hereditary Prince Alois and Hereditary Princess Sophie as part of their visit. At least for part of their visit including visits to the Red Cross, a children's home and more, the Romanian royals were also accompanied by the Hereditary Princess.

If my eyes don't deceive me, Princess Margareta and Prince Radu also ran into Princess Anunciata, oldest daughter of Prince Nikolaus and Princess Margaretha, fresh off her wedding adventures in Germany. Princess Anunciata, who is a niece of Prince Hans-Adam, attended some meeting in relation to the Liechtenstein Olympic Committee probably standing in for her aunt Princess Nora. (News alert! Googling around I just found out that Princess Anunciata actually is a member of the Liechtenstein Olympic Committee since May, a bit of news we seem to have missed. All the details here.) A lot more pictures (and information in case you can read Romanian) on the website of the Romanian Royal Family.

Photo: Michael Zanghel­lini / Liechtensteiner Volksblatt / Volksblatt.li

Sometime midweek, either on Wednesday or Thursday, Hereditary Princess Sophie lend her support to the building project "The Roof" by attending the groundbreaking ceremony. In two years time, the new building will house the Liechtenstein Red Cross among others. More information and pictures at Volksblatt.

On Friday (or earlier today depending on when you read this), the Grand Duchess assisted at the 125th anniversary festivities of the Cercle Artistique de Luxembourg, she is the patron of. The Cercle Artistique aims to bring together Luxembourgish artists of all kind such as visual arts, applied arts and graphics to promote arts education in the country. (Update: The Grand Duke actually attended the event probably standing in for his wife.)

Also earlier today, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced this year's winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, Nadia Murad and Dr. Denis Mukwege, who were honoured for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict. The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess sent letters congratulating both laureates. Grand Duchess Maria Teresa has met and worked with both Ms Murad and Dr. Mukwege. Together with the Dr. Denis Mukwege Foundation, the Fondation du Grand-Duc and de la Grand-Duchesse will host a conference titled "Stand Speak Rise Up" in Luxembourg next year.

Photo: Nils Vollmar / Liechtensteiner Vaterland / Vaterland.li

File the last one under the things we missed category: Back in mid-September, Princess Tatjana was out and about in Liechtenstein giving out the award of the Prince Franz Josef of Liechtenstein Foundation honouring three associations working in the field of palliative care. The only daughter of of Fürst Hans-Adam, is the president of the foundation named in her grandfather's honour. More pictures at Vaterland.

Luxarazzi 101: Royal Recycling and Clothes Sharing Vol. 13

Oops, they did it again... Welcome to Luxarazzi 101: Royal Recycling and Clothes Sharing Vol. 13! Previously on how the lovely ladies of Luxembourg and Liechtenstein basically share one walk-in closet...

Firstly and frankly, I know it's a sign that I have been following the Grand Ducal Family for far too long and far too closely that my first thought when I saw Princess Astrid at last weekend's noble wedding in Germany was "I know that dress!" And sure enough, it's the same dress/tunic worn by Astrid's mother Princess Margaretha 15 years ago for the wedding of Prince Laurent and Princess Claire of Belgium. 

Her mother isn't the only family member Princess Astrid shares clothes with though. This Valentino gown has been worn publicly on more occasions than I can count on one hand and maybe a few fingers more by both Princess Astrid and older sister Princess Anunciata.

And now from Liechtenstein onto Luxembourg: The return dinner of this year's Dutch state visit to Luxembourg saw Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie giving one of her mother-in-law's old Elie Saab gowns another spin. I know opinions are divided but I preferred Stéphanie's take on it. You can't ever go wrong with a rivière of honking diamonds.

On the first day of the state visit we also saw another clothes sharing moment though with much less success with an awkward-looking alteration attempt in the midsection to make up for the height difference of the Grand Duchess and Hereditary Grand Duchess. Usually I'm a fan of making use of expensive gowns by sharing the love but this attempt shall better not see a repeat.