Grand Duchess and Princess Marie-Astrid attend bazaar

Princess Marie-Astrid and her sister-in-law Grand Duchess Maria-Teresa are pictured together at the International Advent Bazaar.

The traditional International Advent Bazaar opened in Kirchberg during the first weekend of Advent. That's this weekend for those who don't celebrate Advent. If you don't know what Advent is and would like to expand your cultural knowledge I direct you here.

By Sunday some 25,000 visitors are expected. The guest of honor on Saturday afternoon was the Grand Duchess Maria Teresa. The Grand Duchess and Princess Marie-Astrid carefully examined the wares being sold at the 60 stalls.

The products are from many different countries and include traditional Christmas food and drink specialties. The Advent bazaar always has a charitable background. This year proceeds will be distributed to 108 projects in 60 countries, the majority of them located in Africa, Latin America and Asia. The main project of 2009 (which receives significant support) is located in the province of Chiang Rai in northern Thailand. The DEPDC (Development of Education Program for Daughters and Communities) is an NGO that provides around the clock assistance and accommodation for girls and boys who are exposed to various negative situations, for example, prostitution or forced labor. Under the direction of Kuhn Sompop Jantraka, winner of the Wallenberg Award in 2008, it also guarantees the enrollment of refugee children from Laos and Myanmar.

Of the 15 projects located in Luxembourg, eleven projects are sponsored by organizations in developing countries, Luxembourg and four charitable projects are located in Luxembourg itself: Asti (support of children of asylum seekers); Fraenhaus, Femmes en détresse (support for female victims of domestic abuse), Association des parents d'élèves d'origine capverdienne, APADOC (support for the Cape Verdean children in the Luxembourg school system), Il était une fois (cross-cultural readings and playful activities for young children).

It is not mentioned in the article but I clearly recognize Princess Marie-Astrid was in attendance with the Grand Duchess. There is a gallery of pictures in the article. It is nice to see my two favorite women attending an event together.

RTL also has a small article but a nice photo gallery of the event. They didn't mention Princess Marie-Astrid by name either. I'm a little disappointed that they clearly recognize that she is "someone" but don't mention her.

Perhaps, Wort and RTL should hire me to write their articles about the Grand Ducal Family since I  can at least recognize all of the members of the family...I'm just saying...

English article. 

Anyone else want a Kinder Surprise Egg after reading about Advent? Maybe that's just me.

Additional info and pics of the US visit

The official website has also updated their pictures of Guillaume's visit to the United States since my post about it.

Additionally, the state website has more detailed information about the working visit. The page in English courtesy of the ghetto translator.

Hereditary Grand Duke recieves students

Guillaume received a group of Japanese junior high school students and the Japanese ambassador at the Grand Ducal Palace. The visit is in connection with the cooperation between the Kijimadaira et le Lycée de Diekirch in Luxembourg and the Kijimandaira school in Nagano, Japan. The director of the school in Luxembourg, Mr. Kazuo Higuchi, was also present. 

Union calls on Grand Duke to find new court supplier

Villeroy and Boch have announced that they are closing their Luxembourg facility. The closure of the facility in Rollingergrund will cause the loss of 230 jobs in Luxembourg. This has not been popular and there have been protests.

The LCGB (Christian Federation of Trade Unions) has sent a letter to the Grand Duke to implore him to terminate V&B as a supplier to the Grand Ducal Court. They say this is appropriate because V&B has shown a disregard for their Luxembourg employees and paid little attention to the social attitudes of the day.

LCGB say that this would be a move of solidarity between the Grand Duke and the 230 employees who will lose their jobs.

Article in English. 

New photos of Guillaume at Kraizbierg

The Kraizbierg has updated their website with additional photos of Guillaume at their annual Adventsmoart.

Just go here and click on the part showing Guillaume right on the front page or go to the archives et photos section on the left and select Adventsmoart 2009.

It's a lovely slide show of pictures of Guillaume there. I really appreciate the work he does with the Kraizbierg and enjoy every opportunity that allows me to mention it.

Thanks Joanna for giving me the heads up on the updated gallery!

Guillaume in the US

Guillaume has accompanied Mr Jeannot Krecke, Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade, for a working visit to the United States of America 16 to 19 November 2009. The Luxembourg delegation met with leaders of DuPont de Nemours in Wilmington (Delaware), Guardian Industries in Auburn Hills and Delphi Automotive in Troy (Michigan), and Goodyear Tire & Rubber in Akron (Ohio), thereby strengthening the linkages with the branches of parent companies of these American companies based in Luxembourg.

Transatlantic flight + Ohio + Delaware + Michigan in 3 days + return transatlantic flight = an exhausted Hereditary Grand Duke. I hope he stopped in to visit Louis and family in Florida before he returned home.

Sadly, this information was not known until after the visit was completed - as usual.

Interview with The Grand Duchess

This is an old interview with The Grand Duchess concerning her visit to Kenya and Burundi. It is interesting to hear her speak of the problems facing these two nations and the effort that She and Luxembourg have put into helping where possible. The Grand Duchess shows a great capacity for empathy and is truly interested in her mission.

This is the original interview. Here is the ghetto English version.

More 20th anniversary in Stockholm

Yesterday The Grand Duchess attended the "high level conference" in Sweden that was part of the second day of the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention for the Rights of the Child. I didn't find much information about the actual program of the conference, so I am left to focus on fashion :(

PPE Agency  has a gallery of pictures of both days of the event. Just click on the link and then select "event" in the blue box on the left.  The pics are right on the front page listed as 20-11-2009 Frosundavik and 19-11-2009 Stockholm.

The Grand Duchess looked very well. I'm very glad to see her out and about again. I love that we have saw more of Guillaume since her surgery but I miss seeing my Grand Duchess :( She looked perfectly coiffed, elegant, stylish and as always glowing with friendly genuineness. She was also looking a wee bit tried. I know it was a busy few days and I hope she takes it easy when she gets home.

Guillaume dear, just because we miss our Grand Duchess doesn't mean we want you to return to wherever it is that you hide yourself!!

I did see some people discussing that Crown Princess Mary was looking the most stylish. I respectfully disagree! The simple elegance and class of Crown Princess Victoria was unmatched among the Crown Princesses. She wasn't the only one who looked nice but she always has a lovely glow and perfect class.

Unrelated Note: I changed the translator to Google's ghetto translator because it offers a much larger variety of languages than yahoo's even more ghetto translator. It's in the top left area of the page between the contact info and Luxembourg clock.

Grand Duke present for 100th anniversary of The Confédération Luxembourgeoise du Commerce

Today The Grand Duke was present at the Grand Theater  for the 100th anniversary of The Confédération Luxembourgeoise du Commerce (CLC). The CLC represents 22% of the GDP with 11, 000 companies and more than 60, 000 employees. 

Google's ghetto English version of the article.

Pictures from UN concert

There are now photographs available of the concert to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the UN convention for the rights of the child that I mentioned earlier this week. Online press agencies are still updating their galleries with these images. Getty, Belga and AFP have pictures but every time I look they have more. I just searched for UN in pictures uploaded today.

The Grand Duchess and The Queen of the Belgians were wearing the same jacket and top. The dangers of wearing so much Natan.

There are some images posted on the Scandinavian Royals MB, the Glittering MB and Luxarazzi forum .