Luxembourg

Prince Robert at Naples Winter Wine Festival

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 23:00:00 +0000

The Grand Duke's cousin and regular supporting character on this blog, Prince Robert attended the Naples Winter Wine Festival in Naples, Florida. The festival is considered the world's most successful wine auction and benefits the Naples Children & Education Foundation, whose aim it is to make a difference in the quality of children’s lives. So far about $100 million have been donated, including $600.000 in an auction for a wine package coming from the prestigious Domaine Clarence Dillon, a vineyard owned by Prince Robert and his family. Naturally that is a record bid for a wine package.

Pictures of the festival can be found here, a video including an interview with the prince from Luxembourg here.

Sources: Naples News, News Press

At Work In Brussels

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:51:00 +0000

Today, the Hereditary Grand Duke accompanied Luxembourg's Foreign Affairs minister Jean Asselborn to a meeting of the Foreign Affairs council at the EU Headquarters in Brussels. During the meeting it was decided that the impose a formal oil embargo and to freeze the Iranian central bank's EU accounts in order to force negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program. Other matters on the agenda included the current situations in Syria and Egypt.

Photograpic evidence and further information can be found over at Tageblatt, Wort, Belga and Daylife.

For further information on Guillaume's stay in Brussels, have a look here.

Source: Wort

Belgian Prime Minister Visiting

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:16:00 +0000

While the Hereditary Grand Duke is visiting Belgium, a Belgian visited Luxembourg, mind you it wasn't just any Belgian, it was the new prime minister Elio Di Rupo. Di Rupo's appointment about a month ago ended Belgium's 589 days long streak without a government. Now he is in the Grand Duchy to meet with various politicians including the Luxembourgish prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker and this morning he was welcomed at the palais by Grand Duke Henri. A picture of the two gentlemen can be found over at the cour, a few seconds of video of the Grand Duke and his guest is available at RTL.

Sources: gouvernement.lu, Cour grand ducale

Guillaume's Job Description

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:42:00 +0000

So, we weren't the only ones wondering what Guillaume actually does in Brussels and what this "working visit" is all about, the people over at Wort had the same questions and did some research. Two articles about the matter can be found over at Wort and Voix (the French version of Wort).

The first two weeks of what, in my humble opinion, would better be called internship, the Hereditary Grand Duke will spend with Viviane Reding, the Luxembourgish Vice-President of the European Commission who is the Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, and her staff. Together with them, Guillaume will take part in all the meetings and sessions that will occur during this two weeks. He will also visit the different Directorate-Generals that he will encounter while working for Madame Reding.

During his time in Brussels, everyone's favourite Hereditary Grand Duke will also meet with two other members of the European Commission, the Commissioner from Denmark Connie Hedegaard, who is responsible for Climate Action, and from Latvia Andris Piebalgs, who is in charge of Development Aid matters.

The third week, Guillaume will pass time with the permanent representation of the Grand Duchy to the Europeen Union. During this time he will take part in meetings of the COREPER (Commitee of Permanent Representatives), the commitee prepares the work of the council of the European Union.

The German version of Wort isn't shy to point out that our dear Guillaume must feel like Brussels is a second home for him as he got family in the royal palace there (Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte was a born Princess of Belgium and sister of the current and former Kings of the Belgians), one should also not forget that he has other family members living in the Belgian capital like his aunt Archduchess Marie-Astrid and as Wort kindly mentions, there is always Stéphanie... Though it made me smile a little, how they mentioned her with a lot of maybes, perhapses, possiblys and a never-ending subjunctive, after all she is only the alleged girlfriend of the heir to the Luxembourgish throne.

Sources: Europeen Commission - Viviane Reding, Connie Hedegaard, Andris Piebalgs, COREPER; Wort

Guillaume Attending A Concert

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:47:00 +0000

Yesterday evening, the Hereditary Grand Duke attended a gala concert at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. He joined Queen Paola of the Belgians and her daughter-in-law Princess Mathilde to listen to a concert by the soloists of the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth (Queen Elisabeth being Guillaume's paternal great-great-grandmother) and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Luxembourg.

Pictures of the three arriving to the concert and greating Guillaume's "boss" (yeah, I do think of his stay in Belgium more along the lines of a short internship than a working visit) can be found at Zimbio, Getty Images and Isopix.

Source: Cour grand ducale

Guillaume In Brussels

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:19:00 +0000

Since last Monday and the upcoming weeks until February 2nd, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume will spend his time working for and thereby getting to know the Europeen Commission in Brussels. During his working visit to the executive body of the Europeen Union, the Hereditary Grand Duke will get a better insight in how the institution works. In the weeks to come, he will also pay visits to Directorates-General for justice and communication.

Guillaume was welcomed in the Belgian capital by the vice president of the Europeen Commission Viviane Reding, a picture of the two can be found over at Wort.

Tonight, Guillaume will attend a concert at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth alongside Queen Paola of the Belgians and the Duchess of Brabant a.k.a. Princess Mathilde.

Sources: Cour grand ducale, Wort

Random Tidbits

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:48:00 +0000

Since it was a slow news week, well, a slow news year really, a few (not so) random things about the extended grand ducal family.

Engagement news... As the newest issue of Point de Vue - Images du Monde: Spécial Mariage is letting us know, Archduke Imre, the eldest son of Archduke Carl-Christian of Austria and Princess Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg, and his fiancée Kathleen Walker will will make their way down the aisle before his younger brother Archduke Christoph and his soon-to-be-wife Adélaïde Drapé-Frisch will tie the knot. Both weddings are scheduled to take place in 2012 though no specific dates have been published yet.

In other news... Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein, the husband of the Grand Duke's younger sister Princess Margaretha, has attended a new year's reception at Vaduz Castle in Liechtenstein on January 13th, sadly for us, his wife did not accompany him. In case you are not aware, Prince Nikolaus is the brother of the current Prince of Liechtenstein, Hans-Adam II. As a former ambassador of his home country to Belgium and current ambassador to the Holy See, Nikolaus frequently attends Liechtenstein-related events all over the world, though I wish that his yummy son and his gorgeous daughters would accompany him more often. Anyway, pictures of the new year's reception can be found at Liechtensteiner Vaterland (just click "13.01.2012 Neujahrsempfang 2012" under "Veranstaltungen") and Volksblatt.

Sources: Point de Vue - Images du Monde, Liechtensteiner Vaterland

And as every so often thank you Iza, you rock!

Introducing the Mérite Jeunesse

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:14:00 +0000

On Wednesday morning, Prince Guillaume introduced the students of the Lycée de Garçons to the Mérite Jeunesse, a organisation and award similiar to The Duke of Edinburgh's Award. Uncle Guillaume is the president of the organisation while his father, the Grand Duke Jean, is the patron. An article including a picture can be found over at the Lëtzebuerger Journal.

Source: Mérite Jeunesse

New Year's Audiences

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:55:00 +0000

Yesterday and today, a new year's audience was held each, Grand Duke Henri, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and their son Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume were present for the events. For pictures have a look at the website of the cour. Among the invitees for the audiences were the prime minister and the other members of the goverment, the bureau of the chamber of deputies, the president and the members of the bureau of the state council, national authorities, representatives of the Europeen institutions and members of the foreign diplomatic missions present in the Grand Duchy, as well as the employees of the grand ducal house. Wort has a small mention of the audiences.

Source: Cour grand ducale

Princess Margaretha and Husband at Papal Audience

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:35:00 +0000

Today, the Pope held is traditional new year's "State of the World" speech in front of members of the diplomatic delegations accredited to the Vatican. Among those were Princess Margaretha, the younger daughter of Grand Duke Jean, and her husband Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein who is his country's non-resident ambassador to the Holy See. The two can be seen in this video around 5:10, for further information on the event and the Pope's speech have a look at this article by Vatican Radio.

Source: Video (Audience to the Diplomatic Corps) - Merci, Iza!

Fleeting Visit to France *

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:39:00 +0000

First of all, I hope that all of you arrived safe and sound in the new year!

Today, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa kicked off their working year with a visit to the Centre Pompidou-Metz in Metz, France. They arrived inthe morning and were welcomed at the museum for modern and contemporary arts by the French Minister of Culture and Communication Frédéric Mitterand. After touring the museum, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess went to Scy-Chazelles to visit the Maison Robert Schuman, the former home of the famous politician Robert Schuman.

Schuman was a Luxembourgish-born French statesman and is seen as a founding father of the Europeen Union as he was very active in shaping a post-war Europe. Schuman was born as the son of a French-born father who became German when Alsace-Lorraine was annexed by the German Empire and a Luxembourgish mother who became German by marriage. He grew up in the Grand Duchy and Luxembourgish was his first language and he never lost his distinctive accent when speaking French, albeit he later got French citizenship when Alzac-Lorraine became a part of France again after the first world war. He later became a member of the French Resistance and went on to become French Minister of Finance, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and President of the European Parliamentary Assembly.

Wort has an article including a gallery of visuals of the visit. More pictures can be found at Le Républicain Lorrain, Isopix and another article at Tout Metz. A video is available over at RTL and another picture on the website of the cour.

Sources: Le Républicain Lorrain, Wikipedia

Engagement Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:38:00 +0000

As rumoured before, there were many more pictures taken at the double engagement party of Archduke Imre and his future wife Katie Walker and Archduke Christophe and his future wife Adélaïde Drapé-Frisch. They were taken by Jean-Claude Ernst for Luxpress and the first of them can be found on the website of Revue.

As mentioned in an earlier post, there was an engagement party that was attended by four of the Luxembourgish cousins Alexandra, Felix, Louis and Sebastien, as well as Queen Fabiola of Belgium and various family members like Princess Margaretha and her daughter Marie-Astrid or Princes Carl and Constantin, two of the sons of Prince Jean, plus many other Habsburgs.

But pictures of all those family members weren't the only treasures we got... The first official pictures of little Léopold, the young son of Archduchess Marie-Christine, Imre's and Christoph's older sister, and Count Rodolphe of Limburg-Stirum, were released. In the first picture you can see Léopold Menno Philippe Gabriel François-Xavier Marie Joseph Ghislain with his parents and grandparents, in the second one with his aunt and godmother Archduchess Gabriella, the other being his paternal uncle Count Philippe of Limburg-Stirum.

Merry Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 16:36:00 +0000

Yes, that is the palais. Yes, that is a guard of the Lëtzebuerger Arméi. And yes, those are nine Santa Clauses. It happened sometime last week and thankfully they are quite relaxed over in the Grand Duchy as even the guards started to laugh when nine Santa Clauses started to march with them... And they made it onto the blog to wish you a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, whichever you prefer.

On Christmas Eve the Grand Duke held his annual Christmas speech to wish his subjects in his own, the name of his wife, his father and his children Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year. The video of the speech can be found over at RTL, pictures are available on the website of the cour, as are transcripts of the speech in Luxembourgish and French, for a google ghetto translation just click here. Articles about the speech can be found at Wort, Tageblatt and Lëtzebuerger Journal.

Source: Wort, Cour Grand Ducale

Grand Duke Attends Funeral in Prague

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 23:15:00 +0000

Earlier today, the Grand Duke attended the state funeral of the former Czech president and poet Václav Havel in Prague. Havel died on last Sunday after a long illness.

Pictures and videos can be found at all the photo agencies, newspapers and probably on the website of the world's broadcasting companies.

Double Engagement Announced!! ***

noreply@blogger.com (Mlle. Sunshine Awesome) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:47:00 +0000

Yesterday in Brussles, the two eldest sons of Archduke Carl-Christian of Austria and his wife Archduchess Marie-Astrid (nee Princess of Luxembourg) announced their engagements.

Archduke Imre is engaged to Kathleen Walker a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. In 2008, she graduated cum laude from Northern Kentucky University with a degree in journalism and political science. She is the communications director for the Catholic Charities of the Arlington Virginia Diocese and is a member of the board of the Catholic Business Network of Northern Virginia. If you google her you will find quite a bit of information, as she is a prominent Pro-Life activist. The Archduke and Miss Walker met in October 2010.

Archduke Christoph has finally made his long expected engagement to 22 year old Adélaïde Drapé-Frisch official. Adélaïde is a graduate of the International School of Belgrade, Serbia and Institut Philanthropos in Fribourg, Switzerland. She is the daughter of Philippe Drapé-Frisch, a French diplomat assigned to the embassy in Saudi Arabia, and his wife Odile. The Archduke and Mlle. Drapé-Frisch have known each other since at least 2007.

Among the notable guests present for the announcement were prominent relatives of the Archdukes'; their paternal grandmother Archduchess Yolande, born Princess of Ligne; their great aunt, Queen Fabiola of Belgium; their maternal aunt, Princess Margaretha and her daughter Princess Marie-Astrid of Liechtenstein. Their paternal uncle Archduke Rudolf was accompanied by his wife, Archduchess Helene. Several their children were also recognizable from the photographs; Archduchess Pricilla, Archduke Franz Ludwig, Archduke Michael and Archduke Carl-Christian along with his wife Archduchess Estelle. Their Luxembourgish cousins Princess Alexandra, Prince Felix, Prince Louis, Prince Sebastien, Prince Carl, and Prince Constantin were in attendance. The bridegrooms siblings Archduke Alexander, Archduchess Gabriella and Archduchess Marie-Christine, who was accompanied by her husband Count Rodolphe and their son Count Leopold de Limburg-Stirum, were on hand to celebrate the momentous occasion.

Revue has published a few additional photos. For additional information about the couples and their short term plans I recommend visiting Stéphan Bern's website (you may have to go a few pages back in the news section).

Both ladies appear to have been given sapphire and diamond engagement rings very similar to the one their father presented to their mother.

My fellow Luxaholics and I hope that both couples are blessed with happy unions.

We'll keep you posted as information and photos continue to become available.

Please don't send me messages about the grammatical mess of a paragraph where I listed the names of the relatives present. :)

Source: Tageblatt, Revue

Requiem for Princess Elisabeth

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:18:00 +0000

Yesterday, a requiem for Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Hohenburg was held at the Église Saint-Michel in Luxembourg City.

Princess Elisabeth was the sister of Grand Duke Jean and died at Château de Fischbach on November 22nd. She was laid to rest on December 3rd at the Castle of Artstetten in Austria, the home of her family.

The requiem mass was attended by Grand Duke Henri, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume, Prince Guillaume and Princess Sibilla. In case you are not familiar with the extended grand ducal family, the lady between the Grand Duchess and the Hereditary Grand Duke is Princess Alix of Luxembourg, Dowager Princess of Ligne, a sister of Princess Elisabeth and Grand Duke Jean who apparently wasn't there, which stands in difference to what was announced by the cour earlier on.

More pictures can be found on the website of Tom Wagner, of the cour and at Tageblatt. RTL had a short report during yesterday's news program (starting at 21:45).

Sources: Tom Wagner, Tageblatt

An Audience And An Anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:30:00 +0000

Yesterday was a two engagement day for the Grand Duke. First off, he welcomed Victor F. Rashnikov at the palais for an audience. Prior to the meeting with Grand Duke Henri Mr. Rashnikov was sworn in as the Honorary Consul of Luxembourg in the Chelyabinsk of the Russian Federation. The cour has a mention and a photo of the audience, Tageblatt an article and the same photo. Later the same day, Grand Duke Henri attended the 50th anniversary celebration of the Union Luxembourgeoise des Consommateurs, the union for consumer protection. An article including photographs can be found on the website of the Lëtzebuerger Journal.

Sources: Cour Grand Ducale, Lëtzebuerger Journal, Tageblatt

Grand Duke Expresses His Condolences

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:07:00 +0000

Grand Duke Henri sent a letter of sympathy to the King of the Belgians yesterday afternoon to express his condolences after the grenade and gun attack that took place in Liège and killed five people and injured many more.

The full wording of the letter can be found over at RTL and Wort also has a mention of it.

Félix Attends Mass In The Vatican

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:01:00 +0000

Yesterday, Prince Félix attended a mass in the Vatican which celebrated the feast day for Our Lady of Guadalupe and also commemorated the bicentennial Latin American nations' independence. During the mass the Pope announced that he will visit Mexico and Cuba next year. As Félix lives and studies in Rome, it is safe to assume that he attends services in the Vatican regularly and that this is one of the rare times we see him doing it.

A short video of the mass can be found over at Rome Reports, Félix can be seen for a couple of seconds starting at 0:19.

Source: Rome Reports

The King's Dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 21:48:00 +0000

Today, the traditional day after King's dinner at the Royal Palace in Stockholm for this year's Nobel Laureates was held. As mentioned before, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa were among the guests.

The first pictures are available over at ANP, as I have no clue how to link the search I have done correctly just type "Nobel Dinner Sweden Royal Palace 2011" into the search box or simply copy and paste, in case you like the easier way, have a look at Belga. Bunte has pictures without watermarks on their frontpage.

The official website also has a mention of the Nobel festivities.

The Grand Duchess wore a golden evening gown, the Swedish Royal Order of the Seraphim and the Chaumet Diamond and Pearl Tiara that can also be worn as a choker, thus it is sometimes called Diamond and Pearl Choker Tiara. I give her a thumbs up for not wearing her hair down, which she has been so very prone to when wearing a tiara during the last couple of months or even years. Unfortunately, there are no close-ups available at the moment so no further judgement of the tiara and hair... The dress is nice though I can't help but think that I have seen that wrap/shawl/light jacket-like thing on her before.

No need really to say anything about the Grand Duke as he looked like he always does - very attractive.

I thought it was a nice touch that not only the Grand Duke wore the badge of the Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau in addition to the Royal Order of the Seraphim but also the King and Queen of Sweden opted to do so.

Nobel Prize Award Ceremony

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 23:06:00 +0000

Here we go, part one of our coverage of the Nobel Prize festivities. As you have probably overheard by now as it was mentioned a couple of times on the blog and a lot of other places, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa attended this year's Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm.

Interestingly, Luxembourg born scientist and one of this year's winners Jules Hoffmann said in an interview shown during today's coverage that he does not think that the Grand Ducal couple is there because of him. So should you ever read this Mister Hoffmann or should anyone of you ever happen to meet him by chance, tell him that they were in fact in Stockholm because of him, and not because they are related. Anyways, I suppose it does factor in that the Grand Ducal couple does seem to get along very well with the King and the Queen of Sweden.

As I did not watch the entire broadcasting, I can only rely on what I have heard: During the award ceremony itself the Grand Duke and Duchess were largely ignored by the TV cameras. They were seated next to Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnusson, the sister of King Carl XVI. Gustav. When I chipped in sometime during the dinner, both the Grand Duke and Duchess were shown a few times.

If you are, just like me, interested in fashion and all things sparkly, have a look at the lovely OoS as I only give you a rundown of what Grand Duchess Maria Teresa wore. First off, the Grand Duke looked dashing as always. Well, one does not really expect anything else as he kind of is the ageless wonder from Luxembourg, isn't he?!

The Grand Duchess wore the same red Elie Saab gown she wore for Will and Kate's pre-wedding dinner party back in April. She has the same dress in mint and also a few similar looking dresses from a couple of years ago and I like all of them. Though this red number is my favourite of all those dresses as the colour looks gorgeous on the Maria Teresa, alas non of the dresses was designed to go with a sash and it looks kind of awkward.

And I do have to agree with the OoS and a lot of people who said it, it looks (not just) a wee bit Christmasy together with the Chaumet Cabochon Emerald Tiara; yes, I do understand when you think of wonderwoman when you see it, though I like it better since today as I saw it in action, it really sparkles; and the Emerald Necklace/Bracelet Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte inherited from her mother Queen Astrid. I know christmas is just two weeks away but it is still too early for that (says someone who went to the christmas market today...).

And, I am not a fan of always wearing your hair straight with your tiara, sometimes it can look good but this time... I wished the Grand Duchess would have asked the lovely ladies from Sweden for the phone number of their hairdresser as Queen Silvia and Crown Princess Victoria (and Princess Madeleine who wasn't in Stockholm today) have about the best tiara hair out there. If anything, the Grand Duchess is the living proof that a successful tiara appearance is the result of a symbiosis between the tiara itself, its positioning and the hair, in this case, I am sorry to say, it resulted in a hopeless fail. Well, it's not too late; please, just call the Swedish hairdresser for tomorrow, Your Royal Highness, cause everyone gets another chance at the day after King's dinner ;)

More pictures are available at Zimbio, Daylife, GettyImages, Belga and basically all over the internet. Just go to whichever photo agency you prefer and tip in Nobel Prize 2011 + Luxembourg and the goodies should pop up. You can rewatch the ceremony and the dinner over at SVT. For example, in the video called "Nobel 2011: Banketten, del 1 av 5" at about 12:00 the guests of honour arrive including the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess. You can see them a couple of times afterwards as well.

How To Watch The Nobel Festivities

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 11:03:00 +0000

Tonight is the big day for this year's Nobel laureates and it is also a big day for us Lux lovers as we get the chance to see some bling bling, (a) gorgeous gown(s) and a dashing Grand Duke. In case you have missed it: as one of the laureates comes from Luxembourg, the King and Queen of Sweden decided to invite their peers from the Grand Duchy for tonight's gala and dinner, as well as tomorrow's dinner.

During tonight's dinner Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa will be seated at the Table of Honour which is actually not too surprising. The Grand Duchess will be seated between the Speaker of the Swedish Parliament Per Westerberg and Dr. h.c. Marcus Storch, the Chairman of the Board of the Nobel Foundation, while the Grand Duke will find his seat between Mrs Gunilla Storch and Dr. Jenny Gordon. In case you feel in urge to see the whole Table of Honour, just have a look here.

And finally to the most important part how you can watch it. The ceremony and usually also the dinner will be streamed live on the website of the Nobel Prize. In case you are interested, you can also watch how the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo around midday. The Swedish TV station SVT also broadcasts tonight's events, be prepared to not be able to watch SVT when you are outside of Sweden but I am not entirely sure about that. You will be most definetely be able to watch it on the Nobel website anyway.

Have fun watching!

Reception At The Palace And A Concert

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:43:00 +0000

Yesterday afternoon, the Grand Duke, the Grand Duchess and the Hereditary Grand Duke held a reception at the palais for members of the Luxembourgish army and members of the Grand Ducal police who took part in humanitarian aid missions and/or peacekeeping missions and their families.

It is interesting to note that not only the military in Luxembourg is operating under the name of the reigning Grand Duke but that the same applies to the police as they are also under the ultimate control of the head of state. That is one of the reasons why the police also takes part in the military parade on National Day that celebrates the official birthday of the Grand Duke.

A gallery of pictures of the reception is available at the official website of the cour grand ducale.

In the evening, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa was scheduled to attend a christmas concert benefitting the SOS Children's Villages. So far no pictures have surfaced of this second event.

Sources: Cour Grand Ducale, Cour Grand Ducale

New Jordanian Ambassador

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:41:00 +0000

Jordan's new ambassador to the Grand Duchy Montaser Al Zoubi has presented a copy of his credentials to Grand Duke Henri. During the audience, the new ambassador conveyed the regards of King Abdullah II to the Grand Duke, who then asked Mr Al Zoubi to convey his regards to the King and wished the Jordanian people and government further progress and prosperity.

In other news: the post about Guillaume's dinner with the International Chambers of Commerce is now updated with a few more links to picture galleries.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Grand Ducal Family At Work *

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:44:00 +0000

On Monday, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume visited Ceratizit, one of the world's leading manufacturer's for hard material products, where he toured the productions sheds. Pictures and articles about the visit can be found at the cour, paperJam and MyWort.

On the very same day, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa attended the closing ceremony of the European Year of Voluntary Work. After a presentation of different project the Grand Ducal couple awarded this year's Prix du Mérite du Bénévolat. The cour and the Ministère de la Famille et de l'Intégration both have pictures of the event.

Yesterday, Grand Duke Henri welcomed Stéphane Abrial at the palais. Abrial is the Commander of Allied Command Transformation, one of the two NATO strategic commands. A picture of the two gentlemen is available over at the cour.

Today it was time for yet another audience, thus the Grand Duke welcomed members of the Order of Architects and Consulting Engineers at the palace. A picture can be found on the official website of the cour.