Luxarazzi

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. Both Prince Hans-Adam II and Prince Michael were definitely among the attendants of the conference, while Prince Philipp, as a board member, was most probably there as well. Wouldn't be very surprising if Prince Nikolaus was also among the attendants as he participated in the conference in the past. In any case, 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.

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 95% 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.

Grand Duke Jean Out and About

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Sun, 05 May 2013 13:57:00 +0000

Luxembourg's Grand Ducal Family is super busy this weekend with the Octave celebrations et al but they still found time to squeeze in another engagement in their busy schedule. While Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa attended a church service this morning, Grand Duke Jean visited Fetschenhaff to open the new FNEL home.

Photo: Tania Feller / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

The 92 years old former head of state was accompanied by his grandson and future head of state, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume, and his granddaughter-in-law, Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie, finally wearing some colour (that's all I'm going to say about her outfit).

Grand Duke Jean has been the chief scout of the Luxembourg Boy Scout Association for decades and it's great to see him attending this inauguration event of the new home of the Fédération national des Eclaireurs et Eclaireuses (FNEL). Many more lovely visuals of the event are located at Wort in German, Wort in French, the cour grand ducale and RTL. RTL also has a video report about the opening.

Source: Wort

The End is Near...

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Sun, 05 May 2013 12:03:00 +0000

This morning Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa attended a Holy Mass at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame to kick off the last day of this year's Octave of Our Lady of Luxembourg. Pictures of the service are available at Wort in German and Wort in French.

Photo: Guy Jallay / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

This afternoon the Octave will close with a grand procession that is traditionally attended by large numbers of members of the Grand Ducal Family. The agenda of the official website of the cour tells us that the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess as well as the Hereditary Grand Duke and the Hereditary Grand Duchess will be in attendance though I remember from last year that not all members who were actually in attendance were mentioned beforehand. So keep your fingers crossed that we will be blessed - I love me some convenient terminology - to see more family members all dressed up and with their rosary firmly in hand.

The closing procession starts at about 3pm; Wort and RTL offer livestreams from inside the cathedral but I'm not too sure whether they will also show the parts outside. The Grand Ducal Family also traditionally makes a balcony appearance to round off the day.

Cousin of Grand Duke Jean Dies Aged 88

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Sat, 04 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Princess Editha of Bavaria, daughter of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria and his second wife Princess Antonia of Luxembourg, died earlier today at the age of 88. Princess Antonia was the fourth of six daughters of Grand Duke Guillaume IV and Grand Duchess Maria Ana and thus younger sister of Grand Duchess Charlotte.

Crown Princess Antonia with five of her six children

Princess Editha was born on 16 September 1924 in Schloss Hohenburg near Lenggries in Bavaria, a castle owned by the Grand Ducal Family at the time. Her father was the last Bavarian crown prince. Princess Editha was married and widowed twice, she had three children with each of her husbands respectively.

May she rest in peace!

Source: Marlene Eilers Koenig / Royal Musings

Spring Fair *

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Sat, 04 May 2013 14:05:00 +0000

Yesterday afternoon, the 101th edition of the annual spring fair at the Luxexpo kicked off and this morning the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess were on hand to tour the trade show. While wandering the stands, the Grand Ducal Couple got an overview (and overtaste) of the Luxembourgish businesses and shops who displayed their goods.

Photo: Tania Feller / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

This year, the spring fair hosts over 400 different businesses, ranging from wine and food to furnishings and fashion. More information and galleries of pictures are located at Wort, Tageblatt and RTL, a video can be found at RTL.

Source: Wort

Lunching with Friendly Helpers

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Fri, 03 May 2013 14:07:00 +0000

Midmorning today, the Hereditary Grand Duke and the Hereditary Grand Duchess arrived at the Lycée technique hôtelier Alexis Heck in Diekirch for a visit. First they toured the facilities of the hotel management school and then had lunch together with its students at the school's restaurant. About 70 of the students helped to cater for the many guests at the wedding of the Hereditary Grand Ducal Couple last year.

A gallery of visuals is located at Wort.

Source: Wort

Four New Ambassadors to Liechtenstein

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Thu, 02 May 2013 14:21:00 +0000

Earlier today, Hereditary Prince Alois received four new non-resident ambassadors to Liechtenstein for an audience at the Schloss in Vaduz. István Nagy from Hungary, Irakli Kurashvili from Georgia, Álvaro José Robelo González from Nicaragua and Michel Duclos from France are all also their countries' ambassadors to Switzerland.

Source: Volksblatt

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

noreply@blogger.com (Sydney) — Thu, 02 May 2013 11:31:00 +0000

The House of Liechtenstein is one of the most ancient noble families in the whole of Europe. Their (known) history begins around 1136 when a person by the name of Hugo von Liechtenstein was firstly documented. He had taken the name of the fortress of Liechtenstein located south of Vienna. At the time, the family mainly owned land north of the Danube.

Twice the Liechtenstein family split into different branches. In the 13th century the family was divided into the Liechtenstein, the Rohrauer and the Petroneller lines; the two latter ones died out in male line within the next generation; their property went to female heiresses who had married into other families and was thus lost. In the 16th century the family split into the Stezregger, the Feldsberger and the Nikolsburger lines. The Stezregger and the Nikolsburger lines died out after a few generations but this time around the family had been smarter as it had been agreed beforehand that the property of extinct branches would go to surviving lines of the family.

Prince Karl I of Liechtenstein

At the turn of the 16th to 17th century, the fate of the Liechtenstein family was changed forever by three brothers, Karl, Maximilian and Gundaker. Raised as Protestants, they all converted to Catholicism in 1599; they now shared the same faith as the Habsburg rulers.

Soon after, Emperor Rudolf II appointed Karl as Lord Comptroller, the highest office at the imperial court and one of the leading figures in the government. In 1606, Karl received the Great Count Palatinate, which enabled him to issue patents of nobility, to grant arms and to mint his own coinage. The same year he and his brothers signed a Family Covenant, which included the rule that the first born of the oldest descendent line has the right to the heritable title and represents the House as a regent. Two years later Karl was elevated to the rank of a Hereditary Imperial Prince.

After Karl had taken side with Archduke Matthias, who would later become Holy Roman Emperor, in the Habsburg Bruderzwist, he was awarded the title of Duke of Troppau and Jägerndorf in 1613. In 1620, the intervention of Karl and Maximilian helped the Habsburg’s and their allies to win the Battle of White Mountain and thus defeat the Bohemian rebels. Three years later Maximilian and Gundakar were also elevated to the rank of Hereditary Imperial Princes.

The three brothers were able to multiply the properties of the Liechtenstein family many times over, especially after Emperor Ferdinand II had made Karl governor and viceroy of Bohemia in 1622; that same year Karl also became a knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Some sources estimate that at the time of Karl’s death five years later, the family owned 5800 square kilometres of lands including 24 towns, 35 market towns, 756 villages and 46 castles in Austria, Moravia, Silesia, Bohemia, Hungary and Styria.

The family's former Moravian home:
Valtice / Feldberg Castle

Although the family had acquired those vast properties over the centuries, they were all held fief under more senior feudal lords. Thus, since being elevated to Imperial Princes, it had been the major goal of the family to become reichsunmittelbar, meaning that they would be free from the authority of any local lord and placed under the immediate authority of the Emperor. Reichsumittelbarkeit was the primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial Diet.

It almost took 100 years until the opportunity to reach this goal finally arose. In 1699, Prince Hans-Adam I purchased the demesne of Schellenberg and thirteen years later Vaduz from the Count of Hohenems who had to pay off his debts.

On 23 January 1719, Emperor Karl VI issued a decree saying that Vaduz and Schellenberg were to be united and elevated to the dignity of principality with the name "Liechtenstein" in honour of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein", who was a descendant of Gundakar. On the same day Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. A curiosity is that the country Liechtenstein is actually named after the family and not the other way around as it was usually the case.

Prince Anton Florian
of Liechtenstein

Though the new tiny principality was the family’s ticket into the Imperial Diet, it was otherwise of peripheral interest to them. The first member of the House to visit the country was Prince Alois in 1818 and in 1842 the first visit by a sovereign prince occurred. The family’s main residences were in Feldsberg / Valtice – today part of the Czech Republic – and Vienna.

Over the centuries the princes of Liechtenstein remained loyal servants of the Habsburg's while multiplying their wealth. The family was sometimes described as the wealthiest noble family of Bohemia.

Even after Austria became a republic in 1918, the primary residences of the Princely Family remained in the region of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Nevertheless, Prince Johann II tried to bring his country into closer ties with neighbouring Switzerland; in 1924 the two country's entered in a costums union. The dependance on Austria during the World War I proved almost fatal; even though Liechtenstein had managed to stay neutral, the country became grinding poor and large parts of the population starved after the allies had prevented goods from Switzerland to be delivered.

The first members of the family to take greater interest in the principality were Prince Johann II's younger brother Prince Franz I, who succeeded him on the throne in 1929, and his wife née Elsa von Gutmann, daughter of a Jewish businessman from Moravia who was knighted by Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria in 1878. The couple regularly spent time in Liechtenstein and interacted with its population.

Princess Gina and Prince
Franz-Joseph II in 1943

In March 1938 very shortly after the Anschluss of Austria into Nazi Germany, Prince Franz I named his first cousin twice removed and heir Prince Franz Joseph as his regent. When he died later that same year, the son of Prince Alois of Liechtenstein, who in 1923 had renounced his own rights to the throne in favour of his son, and his wife Archduchess Elisabeth Amalie of Austria became Prince Franz Joseph II of Liechtenstein. Due to his adverse attitude toward National Socialism he moved his primary residence to Vaduz and thus became the first ruling prince who lived full-time in the country.

During the Second World War Prince Franz Joseph II managed to keep his country neutral. His role during this time is otherwise unclear; on the one hand the family directly profited from the Holocaust as concentration camp labourers worked on Austrian estates of the Princely Family, on the other hand he granted asylum to soldiers who otherwise would have been imprisoned.

In 1943 he married Countess Georgine of Wilczek, daughter of Count Ferdinand of Wilczek and Countess Norbertine Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau. With the much beloved Princess Gina, Prince Franz Joseph II had five children: Prince Hans-Adam II (*1945), Prince Philipp (*1946), Prince Nikolaus (*1947) who is the husband of Princess Margaretha of Luxembourg, Princess Nora (*1950) and Prince Wenzel (1962-1991).

Come back next week to see how the family fared after the end of the Second World War and how they ended up where they are now!