LUXEMBURG (AP) – The Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Henri, relinquished the throne in favor of his son Guillaume on Friday.
At 70, Henri served as a small principality in the heart of Europe for 25 years in a largely iconic role. Guillaume, 43, is crowned at the ceremony later on Friday, and will then greet the public on the balcony of the Grand Doucal Palace, where the royal family is by his side.
Henri set out at a ceremony at Grand de Car Palace, built of yellow stone and decorated with spires and ironworks. Guillaume, 43, will soon be crowned crowned, and will take an oath to Luxembourg’s constitution, with 60 representatives elected members of the Principal Parliament.
The new Grand Duke greets the public from a balcony overlooking the central square, including his wife, Belgian-born Stephanie de Lanoy and his sons Prince Charles, 5, and Prince François.
The royal family from Netherlands And Belgium will be attending the ceremony. Later on Friday, the new Grand Duke will hold an evening gala for guests French President Emmanuel Macron German President Frank Water Steinmeier.
Over the weekend, Guillaume will be taking a tour of the traditional country with Archbishop Jean Claude Horrellich at the Catholic Cathedral of Notre Dame de Luxembourg, which ends with Sunday Mass.
Lee Lister, 70, the official Royal Court supplier, dropped off about 200 madeleines, a small seashell-shaped sponge cake, for the ceremony staff. When Guillaume was 13, she began teaching him to cook dishes like Bouneschlupp, a heartfelt green bean and ham soup. She sells commemorative boxes of cakes along with Guillaume and Stephanie, designed to look like a “romantic fairy tale” that reflects picturesque castles and forests in Luxembourg.
Sitting under the portraits of French novelists Marcel Proust and Grand Duke Henri, she said that Guillaume’s kindness and empathy would do him well as sovereignty. And he said he could support his family.
“He can feel like he is the son of parents who loved each other very much,” she said of Guillaume. “He’s very emotional and very sensitive. So I love it and I think he’ll be a beautiful Grand Duke for us.”
This small country, engraved in the 17th and 19th centuries from today’s France, Belgium and Germany, is a parliamentary democracy that makes the Grand Duke the head of state. King Charles of the UK Or Philip, King of Belgium. Around 700,000 citizens speak Luxembourgian, Germanic, and a mix of French and German in public life. It is the last remaining Grand Duchy of the world.
One of the smallest countries in the European Union and one of the richest countries per capita Luxembourg It is a financial powerhouse that hosts important EU institutions such as the European Court of Justice and the European Investment Bank. The Grand Duchy has many banks of eurozone, reinsurers, hedge funds and money market managers.
Guillaume will become Luxembourg’s seventh Grand Duke since 1890 when modern monarchy was founded. Throughout the Principality, his photographs replace his father’s photographs. His monogram, the symmetrical golden “G” letters under the crown, are also added to uniforms in the army, police, emergency services, prisons and customs.
Guillaume, like Henri, was educated at Sandhurst, a military academy in France and Britain in Switzerland. Guillaume then worked for companies in Belgium, Germany and Spain.
Christophe Brull, a historian and professor at the University of Luxembourg, said Guillaume would step into a very traditional role.
“The margin of his right to maneuver or act is zero. Therefore, the only power he has is the power of speech or words.
