Olympic Games #1

The grand ducal family was out in (almost) full force to cheer on the Olympic atheletes in London today. Grand Duke Henri, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume, Prince Felix, Princess Alexandra as well as London-based Prince Louis and Princess Tessy attended various sporting events.
Sadly, I have no clue how to post a link but you can simply venture over to Newscom, then copy and paste "Grand Duke Luxembourg London 2012 Olympic Games" into the search box and some 66 goodies should come up. Easier but much less pictures of the Grand Dukes cheering on the athletes are available at Wort.

Already yesterday, the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess were invited to a reception at Buckingham Palace and at the opening ceremony the couple waved the Roude Léiw.

Welcoming the Athletes

Together with athletes from some other nations, the athletes from Luxembourg were officially welcomed in the Olympic village yesterday evening. A little parade was held, the mayor of the village Duncan Goodhew gave a short speech and the flags were raised. Present for the short ceremony were Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa.

Both Tageblatt and Wort have galleries of the event.


Source: Wort

Grand Ducal Family at the Olympic Games

Tomorrow the 2012 Summer Olympics will kick off with a grand opening ceremony in London and the Grand Duke, the Grand Duchess and other members of the grand ducal family will be on hand for the event to cheer on Luxembourgish athletes headed by the flag bearer judoka Marie Muller. Sadly, the cour hasn't specified who the "other members" are but here is hoping for a big turn-out just like at the Athens Olympics eight years ago when all the kids were around, four years ago in Beijing Princess Alexandra and Prince Sebastien accompanied their parents.

Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa will also take part in a reception at Buckingham Palace tomorrow prior to the opening ceremony. Family members will also most probably be present for events during the Olympics though nobody should hold their breathes for a Luxembourgish medal.


Source: Cour grand ducale

Another Economic Mission

A while ago, between July 9th and 15th to be exact, the Hereditary Grand Duke once again led an economic mission to the United States. This time Guillaume and his crew of usual suspects paid a visit the the West Coast, namely Sillicon Valley. McAfee`s Senior Director & Customer Security Strategist wrote a piece and posted a picture of the encounter. The cour also has a picture.


Source: Cour grand ducale

Olympic Countdown

With just days to go until the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London, Queen Elizabeth II invited the members of the International Olympic Committee to a reception at Buckingham Palace. As you may (or may not) know, Luxembourg's very own Grand Duke is a member of the IOC and thus among the guests. A picture of Grand Duke Henri happily chatting with the Duke of Gloucester, the Queen's cousin, can be found here.


Source: Daylife

A Ball With Many Guests

Last month Prince Piotr Galitzine and his wife née Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, daughter of Archduke Rudolf of Austria and godmother of Luxembourg's very own Princess Alexandra, held a formal ball in honour of their daughter Princess Maria Galitzine. Reportedly there were more than 500 guests invited, among them quite a royal, grand ducal and princely crowd.

Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and his fiancée Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy, who is good friends with Maria's older sister Princess Xenia, were among the guests, as were Prince Félix who brought along his girlfriend Claire Lademacher, Prince Louis and Princess Tessy, as well as Princess Alexandra.

Their Habsburg cousins Archduke Imre including fiancée Katie Walker, Archduke Christoph and fiancée Adélaïde Drapé-Frisch, Archduke Alexander and younger sister Archduchess Gabriella were also among the attendants and brought their parents Archduke Carl-Christian and Princess Marie-Astrid along.

From Liechtenstein there were Princess Maria-Anunciata, Princess Marie-Astrid and probably others I have missed as I don't have the official guestlist on hand. Which also means that (keeping in mind that there were 500 guests) it is quite probable that others from Liechtenstein, the Nassau cousins or the Lignes were also among the guests.

In case you were just swamped with names that doesn't mean much to you, have a look at our Who's Who page to see how they fit into the grand ducal family.


Sources: Paris Match Belgium, Other

Music and Fun

A week or so ago, Grand Duke Henri was present for the 60th edition of the Festival de Wiltz, a music and theatre open-air festival held every year. Starting out solely as a theatric event, the festival now includes concerts as well. Last week, the it was the turn of the Orchestre National de Belgique.

But the grand ducal family does not only visit the festival in their official capacity. A few years ago, one could see the grand ducal couple and three of their kids enjoying ABBAmania.

An extensive gallery of visuals can be found on the website of RTL.


Source: RTL

Imre and Katie in Brussels

Archduke Imre and his American fiancée Kathleen "Katie" Walker were in Brussels on Tuesday, where they attended the Ommegang Oppidi Bruxellensis historical parade.

Research tells me (and thus you) that an ommegang is a name for medieval pageants celebrated in Belgium, the Netherlands and Northern France. The one attended by Imre and Katie is the most famous one and commemorates the joyous entry of the holy roman emperor Charles V. into the city of Brussels almost 500 years ago.

The event was also attended by Imre's great aunt Queen Fabiola of Belgium. If you look closely, you can spy him and Katie (or parts of them) in pictures here and here. If you like to have it easier, you have a look at this video of Queen Fabiola arriving and greeting the engaged couple.

A special thanks to Iza for providing the news. I said it before and I'll say it again: You are awesome!


Source: Sudpresse, Wikipedia

Dogs, Princes and More

I love the time around Luxembourg's National Day because it's always full of surprises like the photocalls at Berg or the Parc Merveilleux last year, or Prince Sebastien and Princess Alexandra being present for official events that are not the Octave or the National Day itself. This year is no exception; Prince Louis recently opened a museum and the future Hereditary Grand Duchess was attended the garden parties held after the National Day. But that's not all, the cour had another card up their sleeve.

Today, the Luxembourgish Red Cross, whose patron the Grand Duchess is, paid a visit to the Château de Berg to let their rescue dog squad show off their skills and the grand ducal family came out in (almost) full force to see how good the dogs are.

Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and his fiancée Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy, Prince Félix looking slightly lost between all those couples (next time, just give me a call), as well as Prince Louis, Princess Tessy and their adorable two sons Gabriel and Noah ventured out of the castle. Gabriel and Noah were even allowed to play 'victims' by hiding in the large gardens of Berg and the dogs had to search for them.

Pictures of the adventures in the gardens of the home of the grand ducal family, can be found over at Tageblatt, Wort and RTL, while videos are available at RTL (starting 22:41) and Wort.


Source: Wort

Garden Parties Including a Surprise Guest

During the last days, the grand ducal couple has hosted two garden parties at the Château de Berg which including a pleasant surprise for (at least) one of them: the Hereditary Grand Duke's fiancée made one of her rare appearances. Together with Guillaume, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy happily chatted with their guests in- and outside of the palace in the gardens. Pictures are available on the Facebook page of Belgian TV show Place Royale.

They'll also have a report on the whole National Day including the garden parties in their show on RTL-TVI next Saturday. Sadly, it's usually geo-blocked and thus not viewable for people outside of Belgium.


Source: Place Royale (Facebook page)