Friday, August 31, 2012

Guillaume and Stephanie Go Postal


P&T Luxembourg
On September 25, 2012 stamps commemorating the marriage of The Hereditary Grand Duke and Countess Stephanie de Lannoy will be issued. The stamp block will feature two photographs of the happy couple from their engagement and their signatures. 

This will be the first of many postage stamps featuring the couple in years to come. 

In my experience, P&T is very helpful and quick to respond to requests for international orders. Don't wait to get yours! 

Sources: P&T Luxembourg, Wort



The Last Goodbye

Today the funeral of Countess Alix de Lannoy, mother of Countess Stéphanie, was held in Frasnes-lez-Anvaing, part of the Belgian province of Hainaut. Among the guests were Countess Stéphanie's fiancé The Hereditary Grand Duke, his parents The Grand Duke and The Grand Duchess his uncle Prince Guillaume, as well as Prince Félix, Prince Louis and Princess Tessy. Princess Marie-Astrid together with her husband Archduke Carl-Christian and his mother along with Princess Alix, sister of Grand Duke Jean, were among the Belgium based members the Grand Ducal Family to pay their respects to the late Countess. Queen Fabiola of Belgium and the Duchess of Brabant (also known as Princess Mathilde) were also among the mourners.

PPE has a gallery of pictures as do L'avenir, Wort, Tageblatt, Royal Press Europe, Royal portraits and Sudpresse. A videos of some of the guests arriving and departing are available here and here.

May she rest in peace.


Source: Wort

Thursday, August 30, 2012

A Shrine for Blessed Emperor Karl

On next Sunday, Archduke Imre of Austria, oldest son of Luxembourg's Princess Marie-Astrid, will present a first class relic to the parish of the Saint Mary Mother of God church in Washington D.C. On the same day, the shrine of the church will be dedicated to Blessed Emperor Karl, Imre's great-grandfather and last ruler of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and Imre will take part in the dedication ceremony. It is the very same church where the Archduke will marry his American fiancée Kathleen Walker in just nine days.

Although the archduke in question is called "Emry", I'm pretty sure it is our Imre.


Source: Saint Mary Mother of God

Funeral of Alix de Lannoy

According to Jean-Luc Crucke, mayor of Anvaing, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and Grand Duke Henri as well as Prince Félix, Prince Louis and Princess Tessy are expected to attend the funeral of Countess Alix de Lannoy, mother of Luxembourg's future Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie. Other guests include Queen Fabiola of Belgium and the crown princely couple the Duke und Duchess of Brabant.

This week's Paris Match reports that Countess Alix de Lannoy was stricken eight days before her death and in order to save her life, she had three operations in the following days, which were sadly unsuccessful. May she rest in peace.


Source: Wort , Paris Match

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

A Family Day Out

Right now the 672nd edition of the Schueberfouer is taking place in Grand Duchy. The annual fair taking place in Luxembourg City's Limpertsberg district goes back to the days of John the Blind, King of Bohemia and Count of Luxembourg, who founded the Schueberfouer on October 20th, 1340. Some 670 years later the tradition is still going strong and had quite a few royal visitors today.

Prince Louis and Princess Tessy and their two sons Princes Gabriel and Noah as well as Louis' uncle Prince Guillaume and his youngest son Prince Jean, who is only two years older than Gabriel, had a fun day out at the fair. For visuals of the sextette have a look at Wort.


Source: Wort

Wedding News

The wedding of Archduke Imre of Austria, oldest son of Princess Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg and Archduke Carl-Christian of Austria, is only little more than a week away and it has become known that Imre and his American fiancée Katie Walke will get married in a Tridentine Mass. The two will get married at a St. Mary Mother of God church in Washington D.C.

A Tridentine Mass is the old form of mass in the Catholic church and was used before the second Vatican Council. The most obvious difference to a "normal" Catholic mass is that it is held in Latin.


Source: Canterbury Tales

Funeral Arrangements

The death announcement of Countess Alix de Lannoy, the mother of Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume's fiancée Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy, who died last Sunday, was published in the Belgian newspaper L'avenir and on inmemoriam.be.

The death announcement reads:

"Alix Marie Isabelle Louise Ghislaine della Faille de Leverghem, Countess de Lannoy et du Saint-Empire, born in Louvain on September 20th, 1941, passed away peacefully in Brussels on August 26th, 2012 with the last rites. The requiem and funeral will take place within the family circle at the church Saint Amand on Friday, August 31st.
Pray for her.

Mourned by

her husband
The Count of Lannoy,

her children and in-laws
Count and Countess Jehan de Lannoy,
Count and Countess Christian de Lannoy,
Count Amaury de Lannoy,
Count and Countess Olivier de Lannoy,
Mr. and Mrs. John Hamilton
Countess Gaëlle de Lannoy, member of the Foyers de Charité,
Mr. and Mrs. Jean-Charles de le Court,
Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy and her fiancé HRH Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg,

her grandchildren
Counts Antoine and Maxime de Lannoy,
Countesses Caroline and Louise de Lannoy,
Countess Teresa de Lannoy,
Count Philippe de Lannoy,
Misses Antonia, Charlotte, Madeleine, Alix and Victoria Hamilton,
Mr Lancelot de le Court,
Misses Isaure, Aline et Héloïse de le Court,

her brothers, sisters, brother-in-laws, sister-in-laws, nieces and nephews
Mr. and Mrs. Ladislas della Faille de Leverghem and their children,
Mr. and Mrs. Dominique della Faille de Leverghem and their children,
Mr. and Mrs. Arnaud della Faille de Leverghem and their children,
Knight and Mrs. Dominique de Schaetzen and their children,
the children of the deceased Count and Countess Guillebert de Lannoy,
Countess Albert de Lannoy and her children,
Count and Countess Claude de Lannoy on their children,
Mr. Coppieters de Gibson and his children
Sister Isabelle de Lannoy, member of the Carmélite Apostolique de Saint-Joseph,

her aunts
Mrs. Raoul della Faille de Leverghem,
Mrs. André della Faille de Leverghem,

and
The Vicomte della Faille Waerloos."


Source: Inmemoriam.be, Cour grand-ducale

Monday, August 27, 2012

The Mother of Countess Stéphanie Passed Away


Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy's mother, Countess Alix, passed away on Sunday following a stroke.

The former Alix della Faille de Leverghem was born on September 20, 1941 in Louvain as the daughter of Baron Harold della Faille de Leverghem and Madeleine de Brouchoven de Bergeyck. She married Count Philippe de Lannoy on July 15, 1965. Together they had 8 children. Their eldest child was born in 1966 and their youngest, Countess Stéphanie, in 1984. Countess Alix was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and woman of faith.

In April of this year their youngest daughter announced her engagement to The Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg. The couple will marry in October. The unfortunate loss of Countess Alix is not expected to alter plans for the royal wedding.

The Cour Grand-Ducale issued a statement this morning expressing their deepest sympathy to the de Lannoy family. Together with our readers, we join with the Cour in expressing our heartfelt sympathy to Count Philippe, Countess Stéphanie and their family.

Sources: Wort, RTL, CGD

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

A Few Weeks Ago In Azerbaijan

The content of today's post could most probably be best described with the words "better late than never" because the event in question took place one and a half months ago.

Between June June 28th and July 1st, the 23rd annual meeting of the Crans Montana Forum was held in Azerbaijan's capitel Baku, among the attendants was Luxembourg's Prince Jean, who has earned a high reputation for his work in the fields of environmental protection and amelioration of climate change. The prince handed out a few Prix de la Fondation to various people.

A bit of trivia on Prince Jean's working life: over the years he has worked in finance, real estate and international development all over the world. Six years ago, he took over WSSA (Water & Sanitation South Africa) which today employs over 2000 people and works in South Africa itself as well as Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Mozambique. Not long afterwards, he founded MEA AQUA specialising in water service and management solutions for Africa and the Middle East. In 2008 he added MEA ENERGIA, specialising in renewable energy, and MEA POWER, which deals with more traditional sorts of energy, to the list.

Pictures of Prince Jean can be found on the website of the Crans Montana Forum here and here as well as here on the website of the Namibian Ministry of Trade and Industry.


Source: CMF, Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations


Thursday, August 16, 2012

Wedding Updates *


The wedding of The Hereditary Grand Duke and Countess Stephanie will be broadcast on France 2. Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld will commentate together with Stephane Bern and Marie Drucker. Still no word if the wedding will be available online for those of us who do not have access to France 2.

The Hereditary Grand Duke and Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy have also established an account under the Fondation du Grand-Duc et de la Grande-Duchesse. The special account "The Royal Wedding - Social Projects in Luxembourg" is in connection with their upcoming nuptials. Typically guests are asked to make a donation in lieu of wedding gifts. You may also visit the website of the foundation and make your own donation in honor of the royal wedding. The Countess joined her fiancé on the foundation's Board of Directors shortly after the engagement.

Meanwhile, it has become known that Luxembourgish Michelin star cook Léa Linster, who is the only woman to have ever won the Bocuse d'Or, will provide the food for the wedding. Linster, who owns a couple of restaurants in the Grand Duchy, was also the one who cooked the food for the second evening of the state visit of the Grand Ducal couple to Germany earlier this year.


Sources: RTL, Royalement, Fondation du Grand-Duc et de la Grande-Duchesse, Wort, Ozaukee Press

We Appreciate Your Appreciation


Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve been nominated for the Reader's Appreciation Award and even though we never heard of it before, we are thrilled! 

When this blog started out, nobody expected to gain such a large readership and it’s very nice to know that our work is appreciated! So our big thank you goes to Marlene Eilers Koenig, the writer of Royal Musings, who very kindly nominated us.

In turn we now have the opportunity to recommend a few other bloggers who cover our interests. Recipients of the award are asked to:
1.      Identify their award and who gave it to them.
2.      Post the logo on their blog.
3.      Share 7 (?) items about themselves.
4.      Nominate 5-10 other bloggers to receive this award, and notify them on their blog.

As we are already done with 1. and 2., here are seven things about us. This is kind of hard because it has to be kind of universal (if you don't know why, read on):

As you may know, there are a couple of different writers here on the blog; three of us have regularly contributed to this blog with many others chipping in with a few pieces. Thanks again to everyone! 

Contrary to popular belief, none of the bloggers comes from the Grand Duchy but from different parts of the world. We are woefully aware that we will most probably never end up with a prince. Sniff… We know, reality can be really hard at times.

The stories in how we became interested in the Grand Ducal Family are quite diverging and probably too boring to tell. We are not only interested in the current events of the Grand Ducal Family but also the history of the House of Nassau-Weilburg, Luxembourg itself and of course other royal and noble families.

Lastly, we are always a bit miffed when we read incorrect information about the Grand Ducal Family (like their titles, for example) and try try to correct them wherever we go, which is kind of hard as the world wide web is pretty big, but we won't give up ;)

And finally our nominations are...

The Order of Sartorial Splendor: Is there a better way to catch up with what the royals have been up to than doing it while looking at their fashion? Well-researched posts about current and past events including witty comments by the blogger.

The Royal Correspondent: News from the European Royalty with just the right amount of snark so it never gets boring.

Royalement Blog: News and current events as well as historical pieces on the Belgian Royal Family and the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg. The blog is in French but even if you don’t speak the language there are always beautiful pictures to look at.

The Cross of Laeken: Very knowledgeable historical pieces mainly about on the Belgian royals.

Dag Hoelseth: The insightful blog of royal historian Dag Hoelseth.

Tea at Trianon: The blog of author Elena Maria Vidal contains many wonderful royal related entries.

Not blogs but definitely worthy of note...

An Online Gotha by Paul Theroff: While this isn't a blog it is a fabulous resource that every royal watcher should know about.

Royal Magazin: An extremely informative page about royal jewels.

Fondation du Grand-Duc et de la Grande-Duchesse: We just have to mention the Foundation of the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess. The foundation does wonderful work inside of Luxembourg as well as abroad. The foundation doesn't receive nearly enough recognition or support. The Hereditary Grand Duke and Countess Stephanie have established a special account under the foundation to fund social projects in Luxembourg in connection with their wedding (donations in lieu of gifts). Please visit the foundation's website and make yourself aware of their work! If  you're feeling generous there is a simple function for online donations.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

National Day in Liechtenstein *

Today the population of the world’s sixth smallest country is on holiday cause it is Liechtenstein's National Day! The princely family came out in quite a force to celebrate it, among them the Grand Duke's sister Princess Margaretha and her husband Prince Nikolaus, who is the brother of Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein. The two were accompanied by their son Prince Josef; great to see him out and about at official events every once in a while.

The National Day is celebrated in the country's capital Vaduz and starts with a few addresses by Hereditary Prince Alois, who has been his father's regent for a while, and some other important persons.
Afterwards, the princely family, the politicans and the straggling masses make their way from a meadow, where the speeches were held, to the castle gardens; national day is the only day of the year that the gardens are open to the public. In the rose garden, everyone gets free drinks and the chance to hobnob with the princely family.
When the official celebration are over, the national day continues with a big fair and fireworks in the evening.

Pictures are available at PPE, Vaterland and Volksblatt. There are very few photos of only the couple and their youngest, though a couple of times you can spot them behind the main protagonists a.k.a. the Prince and his immediate family. A video, in which you can catch a glimpse of Princess Margaretha, Prince Nikolaus and Prince Josef can be found here (at 0:37 and 2:19) and here (at 0:13 and 3:35).


Source: Volksblatt

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Three Princesses and a Polo Match

Back on July 20th, Princess Tessy as well as her husband's cousins Princesses Maria-Anunciata and Marie-Astrid of Liechtenstein attended the Pro Alvear Polo Cup in Saint Tropez, France. The cup is a charity polo tournament to raise funds for the Fundación Pro Alvear, that supports the educational, social and economic development of the Pampas region in Argentina.

A picture of Princess Tessy can be found on the blog of Vega Royo-Villanova (you have to scroll down a bit). Sadly, I was unable to locate a picture of the two Liechtenstein princesses.


Source: Camino Real, Blog of Vega Royo Villanova

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Olympics Round-Up

Time just flies sometimes: hard to believe but the Olympic Games are almost over, so it's time for an event round-up of what the members of the Grand Ducal Family been up to during the last (almost) two weeks in London.

Of course there was the opening ceremony and the first day of competition, which were already covered in an earlier post. (In case you missed have a look here.) Though the family missed one and an almost member on the very first day, luckily they were soon joined by the missing ones: Prince Sébastien and Prince Guillaume's fiancée Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy.

During the first week of competition, the family attended various events in various combination to cheer on the nine Luxembourgish athletes: Jeff Henckels participated in the archery, Laurent Didier and Christine Majerus in the road cycling, Marie Muller came in 5th Women's -52 judo competition, Carole Calmes competed in shooting, Ni Xia Lian in the women's table tennis and tennis player Gilles Muller unfortunately lost relatively early in the competition, while swimmer Laurent Carnol was the first swimmer from the Grand Duchy to reach the semi-finals though Raphael Stacchiotti sadly missed it by a margin.

For pictures of the family at all kinds of events have a look at the following links.

Roland Miny Pressphoto
Wort #1 
Wort #2
Wort #3
L'essentiel
Tageblatt
Revue
RTL - Day 3
Pure People #1
Pure People #2
Cour Grand-Ducale

As its hardly missable in the pictures, they seemed to have an awesome lot of fun.

On Monday the 30th of July, Grand Duke Henri, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume, Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy, Prince Félix, Prince Louis, Princess Tessy, Princess Alexandra and Prince Sébastien were invited to a reception hosted by BGL BNP Paribas. BGL is a bank and the major sponsor of the Luxembourgish Olympic Team, pictures can be found over at Wort. I also spied Marc Cunningham, the husband of Grand Duke Henri's cousin Princess Charlotte, among the guests.

After the competition for the Luxembourgish team was over, Grand Duke Henri, Prince Félix, Prince Louis and Princess Tessy, as well as Princess Alexandra and Prince Sébastien visited the athletes in the Olympic village; HGD Guillaume and his fiancée joined the later on. A galleries of visuals of the visit is available at Wort and RTL.


While in London Prince Felix gave an interview to Tageblatt and the Grand Duke answered Wort's questions.
A video of the family watching the third day of the Olympics including an interview with the Grand Duke is available at RTL (starting at 3:44 and 8:46). You can also catch short glimpses of the family cheering in this video.

And by the way... Sometimes royals have just the same problems as us mere mortals.


Félix Does It Again

In case you are a regular follower of the adventures of the Grand Ducal family, you might remember that almost exactly a year ago, Prince Félix went parachute jumping. Last Sunday, Félix was a guest at the Air Championships held at the aerodrome in Noertrange, which marked the end of the MoselLuxBoogie 2012.
While there he awarded the awards and used the opportunity to jump off an airplane again. This time all on his own, seems like the tandem jump last year inspired him to get a license. Pictures are both available on the website of the cour and at MyWort.


Source: CGD