Maria Teresa and Stéphanie Honour Our Lady of Luxembourg

Photo: Catholic Church of Luxembourg

This year was a special one for the city of Luxembourg. 350 years ago, on October 10, 1666, Mary, Mother of Jesus, Comforter of the Afflicted, was elected the patroness of the city of Luxembourg. Twelve years later, she became the patroness of the whole country. Since the Octave of Our Lady of Luxembourg earlier this year, there have been various religious celebrations which officially ended today with a mass celebrated at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame. Among the attendees were two ladies of the Grand Ducal Family: Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie.

The Catholic Church of Luxembourg has way more pictures of the event.

Luxembourg Remembers World War II Victims

Photo: Ryck Thill / 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'. Resistance fighters within the Grand Duchy realised what the true aim of the census was - to find out who was Jewish or Italian, for example - and thus started a massive awareness raising campaign so that Luxembourgers would write into the forms just what they were - Luxembourgers. 

Some 97 percent of the inhabitants of the Grand Duchy declared in the census their Luxembourgish identity and expressed that mir wëlle bleiwen wat mir sin (we wish to remain what we are) - the Grand Duchy's national motto. When the Germans realised that the census wouldn't turn out the way they wanted to, they immediately stopped it. 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 interior of the memorial.

More at RTL.

Grand Ducal Family at Night of Museums

Photo: Guy Jallay / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

Grand Duke Henri, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie were out and about last night for the 16th night of museums in Luxembourg city. Seven museums in the capital were open until 1am for the people to enjoy art, history and nature. The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess started the night at Musée national d'histoire naturelle and later joined the Hereditary Grand Duke and Hereditary Grand Duchess at the Villa Vauban - Musée d'Art de la Ville de Luxembourg.

More pictures at Wort, RTL and Tageblatt.

Wedding of Prince Leka of Albania and Elia Zaharia

 Photos: PPE/Nieboer

Modern Albania might not have been a monarchy for much more than ten years but there still was a royal wedding going on in Tirana today. Prince Leka of Albania, grandson of King Zog I who ruled the country between 1928 and 1939, married his long-time fiancée Elia Zaharia at the Royal Palace. The couple's civil marriage was officiated by the Mayor of Tirana. Blessing were given by the various religious leaders of Albania, which is a tradition for the Albanian royal family that shows the unity and tolerance between religions in the country. In the evening a gala dinner was held.

Among the some 300 guests for the wedding were Prince Guillaume and Princess Sibilla from Luxembourg as well as a number of members of the Princely Family including Prince Philipp and Princess Isabelle, Prince Gundakar and Princess Marie with their daughter Princess Immaculata. Charlotte van der Byl, Princess of Liechtenstein was also present.

More pictures at PPE.

Henri and Guillaume Celebrate Engineers

Photo: Lex Kleren / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

Grand Duke Henri and Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume were at the Belval Campus of the University of Luxembourg last night. Together with the Minister of Higher Education, they took part in the celebration marking 100 years of engineering in Luxembourg.

Several lectures were given that highlighted the growth of engineering education in the Grand Duchy. In 1916, the technical school in Limpertsberg began educating engineers with a class of 15 male students. Today, the University of Luxembourg has advanced multi-year programs at the bachelor's and master's level. The university's engineering programs have a diverse student body.

Grand Duchess Maria Teresa at Sustainability Award in Hamburg

Photo: Ralf Rühmeier/Nachhaltigkeitspreis

Yesterday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was awarded with the German Sustainability Award Honorary Award in Hamburg recognising his work in the fields of sustainable development and the fight against climate change. Among the guests for the gala dinner of the Stiftung Deutscher Nachhaltigkeitspreis was Grand Duchess Maria Teresa.

Hereditary Prince Alois Visits Clinic

Photo: ZVG

Hereditary Prince Alois visited the Medic Nova Privatklinik this week. The 50 million franc clinic broke ground in 2014 and is set to open in the first half of 2017. The prince was given an overview of the progress made on the project thus far.

The state of the art clinic will provide advanced medical care in the areas of orthopedics, cardiology, vascular surgery, plastic and reconstructive surgery, urology and anesthesiology. The clinic will provide inpatient and outpatient services to patients. The private clinic will provide high level medical care to Liechtensteiners and those living in the larger Rhine Valley.

Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume Celebrates 20 Years of EFA

20 years of EFA: our support of innovation and research in #Fintech and our legislation help to transform us into a European Silicon Valley pic.twitter.com/UErPdYwdrh

— Bettel Xavier (@Xavier_Bettel) October 6, 2016

Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume was present to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the European Fund Administration (EFA). The organization is currently focused on further increasing its FinTech activities and continue expanding internationally into Sweden. The EFA employs more than 500 people and manages assets of more than 100 billion euros.

As noted in the Twitter post, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel was also in attendance at the celebration.

A little more information here.

Finance Mission to China Coming Up

Later this month Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume (and possibly Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie) will head to China for a finance mission. The delegation headed by the Hereditary Grand Duke and led by the Minister of Finance Pierre Gramegna will visit Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen between October 25 and 28.

Grand Ducal Family Visits Nero Exhibition

Photo: Guy Jallay / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa as well as Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie hopped over to the German town of Trier, near the border to Luxembourg, this evening to view the exhibition "Nero - Emperor, Artist, Tyrant" at the Rheinisches Landesmuseum. The exhibition is one of three portraying the life and rule of the Roman emperor in Germany's oldest town this year.

More pictures are available at Wort.