Luxarazzi

Dutch King and Queen Visit Luxembourg **

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Fri, 24 May 2013 11:30:00 +0000

Their first official foreign visit led the new King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands to a fellow Benelux country, Luxembourg. Apart from being almost neighbours, the two reigning houses share a very familiar relation as they are both branches of the House of Nassau.

Photo: Charles Caratini / SIP

At Findel airport the King and Queen were welcomed by Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa. Together the two couples made their way to the palais where they presented themselves (albeit very shortly) to the crowds. After taking a few official snapshots for the royal family album, or rather the newspapers, they were joined by Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie for a private luncheon.

Photo: AFP / Nicolas Lambert

The King and Queen of the Netherlands will also meet with other Luxembourgish dignitaries over the course of the day before being escorted back to the airport by the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess.

Pictures are available at ANP, PPE, Wort in German, Wort in English, Wort in French, AFP, Tageblatt, RTL, DPP, and Belga. A video is located at NOS.

As it is often the case during state visits or other royal occassions, the good people over at Wort have dug in their archives to surface some oldies but goldies. In this case two pictures of King Willem-Alexander and the Grand Ducal Couple from 1991 as well as pictures of the Dutch royal family in general.

Princess Nora in Liechtenstein

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:16:00 +0000

Last night, the meeting of the delegates of the Liechtensteinischer Olympischer Sportverband (LOSV), Liechtenstein's national olympic committee, took place in Vaduz. The main topic of the agenda was the incorporation of the Special Olympics Liechtenstein and the Liechtenstein Paralympic Commitee into the association.

Photo: LOSV

Naturally, as both president of the Special Olympics Liechtenstein and member of the International Olympics Committee, Princess Nora, sister of the Prince Hans-Adam, was among the guests of the event. A video (starting at 9:00) including an interview with the princess is located at 1 FL TV.

Source: LOSV

Visiting Redange

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Thu, 23 May 2013 11:27:00 +0000

Today's stop of the Hereditary Grand Ducal Couple's visits to the fifteen Centres de Développement et d'Attraction (CDA) was Redange-sur-Attert in western Luxembourg. (They previously visited Mersch, Vianden and Echternach.)

Photo: Nico Muller / Luxemburg Wort / Wort.lu

At 10am this morning, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie were welcomed by mayor Henri Mausen, minister Marco Schank and many other guests of honour in front of Redange's community hall. While the Hereditary Grand Duchess was given a bouquet of flowers, the Hereditary Grand Duke was gifted a paiting. Together they were given a ceramic Kropemann, a water spirit of the Atert and symbol of Redange.

After a presentation about the commune by the mayor, the couple visited the Maison de l'Eau (house of water) and the Energieatelier (energy atelier). They also met with students of the local primary school who had their sport's day today. Together with students of the Atert-Lycée, they viewed their Photovoltaïque (photovoltaics) and Insektenhotel (insect hotel) projects. They also met with people from the local retirement home and learned about early education at the Bëschschoul.

Pictures of the visit can be found at Wort in German, Wort in French and Wort in English.

Source: Wort, CGD

Silver Anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:17:00 +0000

With an almost two-hour-long pontificial mass, Liechtenstein's archbishop celebrated the 25th anniversary of his episcopal consecration earlier today. The mass to celebrate the anniversary was attended by the Prince Hans-Adam II, the Princess Marie and the Hereditary Prince Alois.

Liechtenstein-born archbishop Wolfgang Haas was appointed coadjutor bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Chur in May 1988. (At the time, Liechtenstein was also part of the Swiss diocese.) Two years later, he became the bishop of Chur. After quarrels within the diocese and Swiss church in general due to Haas' conservatism, Pope John Paul II decided to erect the archdiocese of Vaduz consisting of twelve parishes, much to the dismay of Prince Hans Adam II. Haas ceased to be bishop of Chur and became the new archbishop of Vaduz on 2 December 1997.

Source: Vaterland, Me

Visiting Echternach **

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:56:00 +0000

Today the Hereditary Grand Ducal Couple visited Echternach in the course of a series of visits scheduled until the end of the year that will lead them to the fifteen Centres de Développement et d'Attraction (CDA) all over the Grand Duchy. (They previously visited Mersch and Vianden.)

Photo: Francis Verquin / Nadine Schartz / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

Most likely very dilaberately, the visit was schedule for today as it is the day of Echternach's famous dancing procession. Together with the students of the the local lycée classique, the Hereditary Grand Duke and the Hereditary Grand Duchess hopped to the tomb of Saint Willibrord after being greeted at the cour d'honneur of the Abbey of Echternach.

After the procession had ended, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie made their way to the town hall and the Denzelt, a historical building on the market square of Echternach to meet with local dignitaries and get a presentation about the region.

Pictures of the procession are located at Wort in German, Wort in French, Wort in Portuguese, Wort in English, RTL, L'essentiel and Tageblatt. More visuals of the whole day can be found on the website of the cour and at Tageblatt. Video are available at Wort and RTL.

Source: Cour grand-ducale, Wort, Ville d'Echternach

And the Winner Is...

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:16:00 +0000

Yesterday morning, the award ceremony and closing concert of the Podiumkonzerte 2013 took place at the town hall in Vaduz. The event is under the patronage of Hereditary Princess Sophie and so it's not a big surprise that she was on hand to hand out the awards.

Photo: Paul Trummer / Liechtensteiner Volksblatt / Volksblatt.li

The Podiumskonzerte is a music competition and series of concerts for young classical musicians to give them a chance to play in front of larger crowds and thus act as a kind of incentive for them. A gallery of 83 visuals of the event is located at Volksblatt.

Source: Volksblatt

Luxarazzi 101: Dancing Procession of Echternach

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:31:00 +0000

Every year on Whit Tuesday, thousands of pilgrims and spectators gather in Luxembourg's oldest town, Echternach, to participate in its Dancing Procession. Tomorrow, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess will be in Echternach to get their taste of the century-old religious celebration (the last of its kind!) which, since 2010, has been included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Video: UNESCO

On 7 November 739, Willibrord, a Northumbrian missionary saint also known as the "Apostle of the Frisians", died in Echternach, a place where he had spent many years of his life. Appointing Willibrord as its abbot, Irmina of Oeren had granted him land in Echternach in 698 so that the missionary could expand the existing monastery. In 700 Willibrord opened the first church and in the following decades a town, which would soon become one of the largest and most prosperous in the area, grew around the Abbey of Echternach.

While the form of today's dancing procession dates back to the 19th century, its roots are much, much older. Already shortly after Willibrord's death, the first pilgrims arrived in Echternach to visit his tomb.

Painting by Anton Stevens

The first possible mention of a dancing procession dates back to around the year of 1000 when, in his work Laudes Christo, abbot Berno von Reichenau invited believers to celebrate Saint Willibrord with a magno tripudio (big triple jump). Abbot Thiofrid, who died in 1100, chronicles pilrimage processions to the tomb of the missionary saint but does not mention anything about dancing though. In 1479, Springenheiligen (dancing saints) was firstly mentioned in a document. The first known illustration of the dancing procession by Flemish painter Anton Stevens dates from the year 1604.

Even though there are various mentions of the dancing - sometimes also described as hopping - procession, its reasoning remains shadowy.

Saint Willibrord was one of the saints who were invocated in cases of nervous diseases, spasms, epilepsy or (what today is known as) Huntington's disease. So it is very possible that sick people participated in the procession or that pilgrims acted as if they were sick in order not to get these kinds of illnesses. Other sources claim that the dancing part is an expression of thanks to Saint Willibrord who is said to have healed people from said diseases. Others believe that the dancing procession has its roots as a mild and civilised form of flagellant processions, which were common in the 14th century to protect against the plague.

Tomb of Willibrord
(Photo: Gerry Huberty /
Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu)

Yet another theory claims that the dancing processions actually go back to the times of Saint Willibrord himself and is a Christianised pagan ritual. Other dancing processions are known to have taken place throughout neighbouring regions during the Middle Ages though the Dancing Procession of Echternach is the only one to withstand all attempts to abolish it and thus remains to this day.

During the enlightenment period in the 18th century, the dancing part of the procession was heavily criticised by both the secular and the religious leadership. The procession was often regarded as forms of obscurantism and superstition or simply disliked because the pilgrims went into some kind of ecstasy.

In 1778, Prince Clemens Wenzeslaus of Saxony, the archbishop-elector of Trier, prohibited the dancing processions taking place in his diocese. Eight years later, the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II followed his example and banned all dancing processions though he quickly revised his decision, most probably because the ban wasn't upheld anyway.

Photo: Gerry Huberty /
Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

During the time of the French Revolution, the dancing procession was prohibited yet again and only in 1801 Napoléon gave allowed the procession to take place. In more positive developments during that time, women were also allowed to take part in the dancing procession. With the exception of the time of the German occupation in the Second World War, the dancing procession has taken place ever since.

While it is not entirely clear why and how the dancing or hopping part of the procession came into place, there is no question as to why it is held during Pentecost: In the middle ages, more than 150 places which were depended from the Abbey were obliged to come to Echternach at Whitsuntide to give their tithe to the Abbey. In 1825, King-Grand Duke Willem I issued a decret which tried to move the procession from Whit Tuesday to Sunday but it wasn't very successful and taken back five years later.

Today about 12,000 to 14,000 pilgrims take part in the procession, 8,000 to 9,000 of them dancing.

Photo: Guy Jallay / Luxemburger
Wort / Wort.lu

The day starts early at 5:15am when groups of young pilgrims, who took part in the overnight Pax-Christi pilgrimage, gather in the church for an eucharistic celebration. At 7:30am, German pilgrims from Prüm and Waxweiler, places of other former dancing processions, are welcomed on the Al Sauerbréck, a bridge which connects Echternach in Luxembourg and Echternacherbrück in Germany. At 8am, a pontificial mass is celebrated and about an hour later, the dancing procession starts. Until 1pm, 45 groups of pilgrims, four or five people in a row holding the ends of white handkerchiefs, make the 1.5 kilometre way through Echternach. They are accompanied by music groups who play the same ancient tune the whole time.

A widespread cliché says that the dancers jump three steps forward and two back but this impression only arose when it came to standstills due to less than stellar organisation in times gone by. During the early 20th century, some of the groups of pilgrims actually hopped back and forth but this costum, which turned out to be chaotic, was banned in 1947. Since then, everyone moves forward via steps to the left and right. The procession ends at the tomb of Saint Willibrord at the basilica of the Abbey of Echternach.

It is the aim of the dancing procession to involve the whole body in the prayer while proceeding by dancing back and forth to the beat of an endlessly repeated melody to devote the mind to prayer. Sounds heavy but I have been assured that it is actually a lot of fun for everyone involved. So come back tomorrow and see how much the Hereditary Grand Ducal Couple enjoyed their visit to the Dancing Procession of Echternach!

Liechtenstein Additions

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Sat, 18 May 2013 20:43:00 +0000

As you are probably all too aware, we have recently added the Princely Family of Liechtenstein to the coverage of our blog though most of their faces are most likely not too familiar to you. This is not very surprising considering the fact that the family largely flies under the radar of the world's and even Europe's press.

To help you out with putting faces to the names that we will be (and already have been) throwing around, I have updated the Who's Who section of the blog with the members of the immediate Princely House. If you want to read more about them, have a look at Introducing Liearazzi.

As you probably already noticed, there is a link section on the right column of the blog which helps you find your favourite member of the Liechtenstein family (or simply the one and their family you want to read about).

Also, a section titled "Luxarazzi Goes Liechtenstein" was introduced to our Luxarazzi 101 page which deals with 101 posts about the Princely Family. So far there are two covering the history of the House and Family of Liechtenstein but new posts are likely going to be added in the future.

Just a reminder for you: If there is anything you are particularly interested in to read about in one of our 101 features, just drop us a line via the numerous ways to contact us or simply comment on any of the blog's posts. All ideas, related to the Grand Ducal Family or Luxembourg in general as well as the Princely Family or Liechtenstein in general, are much appreciated and warmly welcomed!

Haberler Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:08:00 +0000

Yesterday, the 9th International Gottfried von Haberler Conference under the topic "Are the Poor getting poorer and the Rich getting richer?" took place in Liechtenstein's capital Vaduz and numerous members of the family were involved. The conference was organised by the European Center of Austrian Economics Foundation in corporation with the University of Liechtenstein and other national and international sponsores.

Photo: sdb / Vaterland

Among the board members of the European Center of Austrian Economics Foundation are two Liechtenstein princes, Prince Philipp and his third cousin Prince Michael. The Prince Hans-Adam II is also a member of the liberal think tank. Prince Hans-Adam II, Prince Philipp, Prince Michael as well as Prince Stefan, Liechtenstein's ambassador to Germany, were definitely among the attendants of the conference. Hereditary Prince Alois hosted a reception for all the guests at Schloss Vaduz in the evening hours to round off the day.

Pictures and more information can be found at Vaterland and Volksblatt, a video (including interviews with Prince Michael and Prince Hans-Adam II) at 1 FL TV.

Source: Vaterland, ECAEF

Coupe de Luxembourg

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:46:00 +0000

Tonight, Jeunesse Esch won the final game of the Coupe de Luxembourg, the national knockout cup competition in Luxembourgian football, against FC Differdange 03 and the Grand Duke was on hand to witness Jeunesse's first win in 13 years.

Photo: RTL

First pictures (which, not very surprisingly, focus more on the game) are located at RTL, Wort and Tageblatt. More are now available at RTL.

Source: Wort

Audience Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:24:00 +0000

After a Tueday full of audiences, we have a Friday full of audiences as well. While the Grand Duke had two meetings this morning, the Grand Duchess had one.

Photo: Charles Caratini / Cour grand-ducale

To kick off the day, Grand Duke Henri received Hugh Bayley, president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, at the palais. The NATO PA is currently holding its spring session and a joint meeting with the North Atlantic Council in Luxembourg. For a picture, have a look on the website of the cour.

Afterwards, the Grand Duke welcomed the president of the Republic of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou for an audience. The leader of the Western African nation has recently been touring Europe to meet with different fellow heads of states and governments; he is currently in the Grand Duchy and also met with members of its government. Two pictures are located on the website of the cour.

Photo: Cour grand-ducale

Meanwhile, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, in her capacity as UNICEF Eminent Advocate for Children and Goodwill Ambassador, received Leila Zerrougui, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, at the palais. The Grand Duchess also attended a conference entitled "The United Nations and children in armed conflicts" organished at the University of Luxembourg on the occassion of Mrs Zerrougui's visit.

Source: Université de Luxembourg, Cour grand-ducale, NATO Parliamentary assembly

Busy in Switzerland

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:58:00 +0000

Earlier this week, members of the Princely Family were busy business-wise in Switzerland. In his capacity as chairman of the board of trustees of the LGT Group, the family's own wealth and asset management group, Prince Philipp was in Fribourg to meet with customers as well as representatives of the economy and politics to talk banking-related stuff on Wednesday.

Photo: Annette Mahro / Badische Zeitung

A day earlier in Tuesday, his older brother the Prince Hans-Adam II was in Basel to give a speech at the Basel chamber of commerce's general meeting. Under the topic of "The State as a Service Company", he talked about decentralising states as much as possible. According to him, citizens should no longer be regarded as servants of the state but the state should service its citizens. The Prince believes that the state should only concentrate on matters of foreign policies, defense of the rule of law, education and state finances and that big central states won't have huge chances of surviving this century. (Prince Hans-Adam II actually published a book about the matter about two years ago.)

Source: Freiburger Nachrichten, Badische Zeitung, Handelskammer beider Basel

Celebrating an Anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Thu, 16 May 2013 22:30:00 +0000

This afternoon, Grand Duke Jean visited Echternach in eastern Luxembourg to take part in an academic meeting organised to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Amicale des Sapeurs-Pompiers Vétérans, or association of firefighter veterans in English.

Photo: Tom Wagner

I may sound like a broken record but it's always nice to see Luxembourg's former Grand Duke out and about. About 15 seconds of him at the meeting can be seen during RTL's news report (starting at about 2:00). Pictures are located at Tom Wagner's and RTL.

Source: RTL

Young Entrepreneurs Luxembourg

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Thu, 16 May 2013 22:10:00 +0000

The Hereditary Grand Duke and the Hereditary Grand Duchess recently received representatives of the Jonk Entrepreneuren Luxembourg (Young Entrepreneurs Luxembourg) for an audience. Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume has been the patron of the organisation for about a year.

Photo: Place Royale

The aim was the working meeting was to introduce to the Hereditary Grand Duke to the work and current projects of the association whose aim it is to engage with young people to use initiative, create and innovate and promote responsible entrepreneurial skills. It was founded in 2005 as the Luxembourgish spin-off of Junior Achievement Worldwide.

Source: Place Royale, Genii Capital

Red Cross Meeting

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Thu, 16 May 2013 00:12:00 +0000

On Tuesday evening, Princess Marie, her brother-in-law Prince Nikolaus and her daughter-in-law Hereditary Princess Sophie attended the annual general meeting of the Liechtenstein Red Cross which took place at the council chamber in Vaduz.

While the Princess is the president of the Liechtenstein Red Cross, Prince Nikolaus is its international delegate. The Hereditary Princess has also been heavily involved with the organisation for many years.

A rather lengthy news report, including an interview with Princess Marie, can be found at 1 FL TV (starting at about 2:20). During the report you will also see an interview with Count Clemens of Waldburg-Zeil, who is the secretary general of the German Red Cross and, moreover, married to Princess Georgina of Liechtenstein, daughter of the late Prince Georg Hartmann and thus cousin of Prince Hans-Adam II. A few pictures are located at Volksblatt.

In case you still don't know why this news made it onto the blog, you missed some of our latest news as Luxarazzi went Liechtenstein.

Source: Liechtensteinisches Rotes Kreuz, 1 FL News

Responsible Investing Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:47:00 +0000

This morning, the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess attended the "ALFI Responsible Investing Conference" at the Chambre de Commerce in Kirchberg. During the course of the conference which dealth with the subject of microfinance, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa gave a speech about the matter of "Mobilising our efforts to make a difference".

Photo: Manuel Dias

The Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI) is the representative body of the Luxembourg investment fund community and represents over one thousand Luxembourg domiciled investment funds, asset management companies and a wide range of service providers such as depositary banks, fund administrators, transfer agents, distributors, legal firms, consultants, tax experts, auditors and accountants, specialist IT providers and communication companies.

Picture and more information are available at Tageblatt, Wort, PaperJam, Manuel Dias and on the website of the cour.

Source: ALFI press release, Agenda of the CGD

A Crafting Princess

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Wed, 15 May 2013 09:06:00 +0000

Last month, the always stunning Princess Sibilla made her way to Bursa in Turkey to take part in the award ceremony of the Luigi Micheletti Award, which honours innovation in museums.

Photo: European Museum Academy

The award, which was given to the Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr in Dresden, Germany this year, is given out in collaboration with the European Museum Academy, of which Princess Sibilla, an art historian herself, is a member of the pool of experts. While in Bursa, the princess also took part in an workshop on traditional crafts.

More pictures of the crafting princess can be found on the website of the European Museum Academy. A video is located on the website of the town of Bursa.

Source: European Museum Academy, Haber Monitör'de

Audience Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:32:00 +0000

Today, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa welcomed André Azoulay, in his capacity as the president of the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue Between Cultures based in Alexandria, Egypt, at the palais.

Photo: Charles Caratini / Cour grand-ducale

Mr Azoulay also works as a senior advisor to King Mohammed VI of Morocco and works for many other foundations promoting dialogue between cultures and religios. Another picture of the two gentlemen is located on the website of the cour.

Before that, the Grand Duchess also met with Tina Kieffer, Nathalie Saluzzi and Marie-Jeanne Chèvremont-Lorenzini, heads of the Toutes à l'École foundation, whose aim it is to establish schools and educational programmes for girls in development countries, at the palais. Likewise, a picture can be found on the website of the cour.

Source: Agenda of the cour grand-ducale

Visiting Vianden

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:26:00 +0000

Yesterday evening, the Hereditary Grand Duke and the Hereditary Grand Duchess visited the city of Vianden near the Luxembourg-German border in the north-east of the country. The visit was part of a series of visits that will be conducted by the couple of the course of this year to get to know the Grand Duchy better. They previously visited Mersch.

Photo: John Lamberty / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

The origins of Vianden date back to the Gallo-Roman age when there was a castellum on the site of the present castle. It was firstly mentioned in 698. Vianden's most prominent feature, which was also visited the the Hereditary Grand Ducal Couple, is its castle located on a rocky promontory above the city. Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie also toured the town to see its different parts such as the Église des Trinitaires and the Victor Hugo Museum, to meet with students, the elderly and many more as well as to inaugurate a fountain.

Photo: John Lamberty / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

Members of the Grand Ducal Family are regular visitors to Vianden, both in official and private functions.

Pictures of this visit can be found at Wort in German, Wort in French, Wort in English, Tageblatt, on the website of the cour and many on the website of the awesome Manuel Dias.

Source: Wort, CGD

Prince Robert Gives Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Mon, 13 May 2013 13:57:00 +0000

Just a quick heads up, that Prince Robert is featured during a 12 minute-long report about his vineyard Château Haut-Brion by TV7. The report in French is available online. For more information about Prince Robert, his family and his wines, have a look at our Luxarazzi 101 about him.

Pierre Mores Resigns

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:28:00 +0000

This morning it was announced that Pierre Mores, the current Maréchal de la Cour, will enter retirement soon and that he will be replaced by Pierre Bley, current director of the Luxembourg Enterprise Union (UEL), in September.

Mr Mores has worked as the head of the grand ducal administration and representative of the family at official functions for the past six years. As a thank you, the Grand Duke granted him the title an Maréchal de la Cour Honoraire.

Source: RTL

A New Research Institution

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Wed, 08 May 2013 20:13:00 +0000

This morning Grand Duke Henri was on hand for the official opening ceremony of the "Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law". The institute is run by the German Max Planck Gesellschaft which operates about 80 research institutions in Germany as well as abroad. The different institutions conduct basic research in the interest of the general public in the natural, life and social sciences as well as arts and humanities.

A video of the opening can be found at RTL, pictures at Tageblatt.

Source: RTL

Giving the Gift of Literacy

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Wed, 08 May 2013 14:27:00 +0000

Princess Margaretha recently attended the "Give the Gift of Literacy" lunch at the European Parliament in Brussels which was hosted by Nirj Deva, a British member of the parliament. The Luxembourg-Liechtenstein princess has been the patron of Dyslexia International for many years. The aim of the luncheon was to thank all the foundations's sponsors, in particular those who supported its eCampus, an open education resource offering high quality, free, online training for teachers and is available in English and French.

A picture is located on the website of Dyslexia International who also have more information about the event.

Source: Dyslexia International

Luxarazzi 101: House and Princely Family of Liechtenstein - Post-World War II

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Tue, 07 May 2013 19:30:00 +0000

In the first part of our Luxarazzi 101 about the House and the Princely Family of Liechtenstein, we had a look the origin of the family and how they became what they are until the end of World War II. While they still fared pretty well during the war, their major blow came with the end of it and after the Second World War was over, the family basically had to start from scratch.

Prince Nikolaus, Prince Philipp, Prince
Hans-Adam, Prince Franz-Joseph II,
Princess Gina with Prince Wenzel
and Princess Nora

On the basis of the Beneš decrees the family lost their Czechoslovakian properties, including 17 castles and 1.600 square kilometres of agricultural and forest land, about two percent of the size of the Czech Republic.

[FYI, a series of laws, better known under the term of Beneš decrees, stripped Germans - everyone who spoke German was considered German - and Hungarians off their properties and forced them to flee the country. During the Cold War, citizens of Liechtenstein were not allowed to enter Czechoslovakia and only in 2009, Liechtenstein and the Czech Republic as well as Slovakia respectively mutually recognised each other as states and started forming diplomatic relations for this reason.]

In addition large part of their Viennese homes were destroyed by bombs. All in all the family reportedly lost 80% of their assets. They, however, managed to bring the majority of their extensive art collection, which is often considered the world's second largest privately owned one, to Liechtenstein.

In the following years it was the main aim of the family to foster Liechtenstein's economic development. The country that once was a poor agricultural backwater became one of the richest countries (per capita) in the world. But it was a long way to the place where the country, and the family, is now.

The Liechtenstein family struggled economically until the mid-1970's as most of the properties they still owned were mismanaged and debt-ridden. Many relatives of the family, both on the maternal and paternal side, had lost all their assets. The castle located above Liechtenstein's capital Vaduz and adjoining buildings were crowded by fugitive family members and friends.

Princess Margaretha, Prince Nikolaus
and Prince Josef during last year's
Staatsfeiertag (Photo: Exklusiv)

During that time, the castle gardens were used to grow vegetables for self supply and until the 1960's Prince Franz Joseph II sold off pieces of the family's famous art collection to finance the family. Among those works sold were such priceless paintings as Leonardo DaVinci's "Ginevra de' Benci", which at the time was the most expensive piece of art ever sold, and Frans Hals' "Willem van Heythuysen".

In 1969, then Hereditary Prince Hans-Adam had graduated university and started to reorganise the family wealth. In fact, he had been named for Prince Hans-Adam I, who had been given the byname "the Rich" as he was considered some kind of a financial genius who managed to rebuild the family's wealth after it had been destroyed during the Great Turkish War in the 17th century. The current reigning prince claims that he knew from an early age that this would also be his main task in life and what the family expected of him. One can say without a doubt that he succeeded.

A year later, the Prince of Liechtenstein Foundation was put into place. The foundation now owns an array of companies in the varying fields, from banking to agriculture and from forestry via real estate to energy as well as the family's art collection and museums. Today, the foundation is estimated to be worth between 6.25 to 7.6 billion U.S. dollar. While Prince Hans-Adam II is the chairman of the board of trustees, his youngest son Prince Constantin is the CEO.

Prince Hans-Adam II, Princess Marie,
Hereditary Prince Alois and Hereditary
Princess Sophie (Photo: Exklusiv)

The family's probably most - at least in the economic sense - valuable asset is the LGT Group which includes the famous LGT Bank. In 1930, ten years after it was founded, the family had bought a majority of shareholds. Already in 1923, the bank-client confidentiality had been anchored in Liechtenstein's banking law and three years later a law was passed to attract foreign investors. In 1986 the bank, at the time still known as Bank in Liechtenstein, went public, only to be reprivatised again in 1998. Today, the bank owns offices around the world and at the end of last year had total assets of 27.2 billion Swiss franc. The group's CEO and president is the reigning prince's second son Prince Max while the prince's brother Prince Philipp is the chairman of the board of trustees.

In addition to the round about 7 billion U.S. Dollar that the Prince of Liechtenstein Foundation is worth, the sovereign prince is estimated to have a personal wealth of several billions making him one of the richest head of states in the world.

Prince Hans-Adam II wasn't only instrumental in modernising the family's finances but also the laws within the family. In 1993, he introduced a new house law which has been written by him and experts.

Interestingly, there were parts of the family who opposed the new law and threatened to veto it. In fact, unanimity had been one of the main points of the old law from 1606. Only when the Prince, his brothers, sons and nephews threatened in return to form a new family association under a new law independent from the old one - which everyone who wanted could join - the whole family agreed on the new House Law.

Princess Anunciata and Princess
Astrid (Photo: Oreste)

The new House Law is probably the most well written and comprehensive house law that I have ever seen. It covers pretty much all possible events while being clear and without leaving any questions. (Hello there, Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg!)

Some of the most important stipulations include that all members of the house are titled as Prince or Princess of Liechtenstein, Count or Countess of Rietberg with the style of a serene highness. Meanwhile, the reigning prince is titled as "Reigning Prince of Liechtenstein, Duke of Troppau and Jägerndorf, Count Rietberg, Sovereign of the House of Liechtenstein". All male line descendants of Prince Johann I of Liechtenstein (1760-1836) born within a recognised marriage are members of the of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. As you can imagine, there are a lot of descendants which makes the Family not only one of the richest reigning families in the world but also one of the largest. And they keep growing. In addition, princesses do not lose their title and do not cease to be members of the House upon marriage.

The Prince of Liechtenstein is often described as Europe's most powerful monarch. In difference to his counterparts who have largely ceremonial roles, he actually wields wide powers. The reigning prince has possibility of an the absolute veto against any decision taken by the parliament or even the population of the of the principality, he has the right to dissolve the government, to dismiss parliament, and no judges can be appointed without his approval.

But not only his powers make the Prince of Liechtenstein and his family a rare kind. The family does not receive any money from the state, there is no civil list or anything along those lines. Instead, the family lives off the money they make - and as we covered above that they are quite successful at it. Prince Hans-Adam jokingly referred to this fact that he has to work in the morning, so he can afford to reign in the afternoon. As a consequence, the bulk of family members are very well educated and are gainfully employed all over the world.

So, why are we talking about this on a blog about the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg you might ask yourself if you are not a regular visitor on this site. For one, we recently introduced the Princely Family as an addition to the blog which we are going to cover whenever news of them come up. In addition, there are numerous ties between the Princely and the Grand Ducal Family which would make this post worth alone.

Wedding of Hereditary
Prince Alois and Duchess
Sophie in Bavaria
(Photo: Langevin-Orban /
Sygma / Corbis)

In 1982, Luxembourg's very own Princess Margaretha married Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein, brother of the current reigning prince. In fact, their's was the last marital union between two reigning European houses. The couple has three surviving children, Princess Maria-Anunciata, Princess Marie-Astrid and Prince Josef. If we can find the info, we cover what they've been up to on the blog.

The connections between the two family's however expand beyond that. Grand Duke Jean and Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte were friends with Prince Franz Joseph II and Princess Gina, and the Grand Ducal Family used to spend some of their skiing holidays in the principality. To this day, members of both families continue being of friendly terms, mingle in the same circles and attend each other's family events.

And so it is no big surprise that the bridal party at the 1993 wedding of Hereditary Prince Alois and Duchess Sophie in Bavaria not only included the groom's cousins, the aforementioned princesses Anunciata and Astrid, but also Prince Guillaume, Prince Félix and Prince Louis of Luxembourg. The Liechtenstein family was also numerously represented at the recent weddings of Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Archduke Christoph.

Closing of the Octave 2013 *

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Sun, 05 May 2013 16:02:00 +0000

Sadly, only a relatively small number of members of the Grand Ducal Family came out today to participate in the closing procession of the Octave of Our Lady of Luxembourg; Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa as well as Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie got all dressed up to show up at one of the two major annual events of the Grand Ducal Family (national day being the other one). Shame on the rest of them for denying us the oppurtunity to see them... (Yep, I'm totally playing the guilt card here.)

Photo: Guy Jallay / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

On a brighter note, the Hereditary Grand Duchess looked très chic while her mother-in-law seems to have forgotten the top part of her hat. (A classic Fabienne Delvigne move, I might add.) In addition, the lack of numerous attendance by the Grand Ducal Family was made up for by the sheer number of Luxembourgers in general and clergy in particular. There was the current archbishop of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Hollerich and the former archbishop Fernand Franck. In addition the archbishop of Paris Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, the archbishop of Riga Zbigņevs Stankevičs as well as three suffragan bishops from Germany were in attendance to celebrate the closing of the octave.

The closing procession let the pilgrims from the Cathédrale de 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 in front of the palais grand ducal, where they stopped for the Eucharistic blessings, and the rue de l’Eau back to the cathedral.

Photo: Guy Jallay / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

After the ending of the Octave celebrations, the Grand Ducal and the Hereditary Grand Ducal Couples made their way back to the palais on foot and then appeared on the balcony. The Harmonie Municipale de Luxembourg-Limpertsberg played some march and the national anthem and then all was over.

Pictures of the closing procession can be found at RTL, Wort, Tageblatt, Manuel Dias and the cour grand ducale. RTL also has a video report about the event.

Source: CGD, Église catholique à Luxembourg.