Grand Duke Henri yesterday participated in the celebrations in Luxembourg of 150 of rail travel in the Grand Duchy, attending an academic session at the Grand Theatre of Luxembourg. The first line , from Luxembourg to Arlon and Thionville was opened on 4-5th October 1859.
The Grand Duke also accepted the credentials of Madam Elisabeth Simbrao, the Ambassador of Angola to Belgium and the Netherlands as the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to the Grand ‘Dukedom (sic)’ of Luxembourg.
For more information, please see this thread.
alex001 Luxembourg Royals Grand Duke Henri
Click here to see the image from Billed-Bladet
Princess Marie yesterday opened a UNESCO environmental conference for school leaders from both Asia and Europe in Soenderborg.
The 100 educationalists will be working together on joint projects over the internet to help better the environment, which is, as Princess Marie said, very relevant with the climate summit being held in Copenhagen next month.
For more information, please see this thread.
alex001 Danish Royals Environment, Princess Marie, UNESCO
Click here to see the image from the Cour Grand-Ducale.
Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg and his eldest son Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume gave a reception yesterday at the Grand-Ducal Palace in Luxmebourg after the opening ceremony of the new term (2009/2010) of the Chamber of Deputies, Luxembourg’s parliament.
Grand Duchess María Teresa was not in attendance, presumably due to a recent operation.
For more information, please see this thread.
alex001 Luxembourg Royals Grand Duke Henri, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume, Parliament
Click here to see the images from MSN Denmark
Countess Alexandra of Frederiksborg, former wife of Prince Joachim, attended on the 23rd the launch at the D’Angleterre Hotel in Copenhagen of friend Dennis Knudsen’s first make-up range, Ink By Denis Knudsen. She was accompanied by her husband Martin Joergensen and other celebrity customers of Knudsen’s, including Maria Montell and Janni Kjær.
The Countess is also not only a customer of his store, but also of his holiday homes in Turkey, where she and her family have previously holidayed and have now bought themselves a property. The house, in Alanya, is rumoured to be 220 square meters, with a luxury jacuzzi, air conditioning, marble floors and have acces to Danish television channels.
For more information, please see this thread.
alex001 Danish Royals Countess Alexandra, Martin Jørgensen
Having handed over his job as Order Chancellor to Prince Joachim, Queen Margrethe’s husband has now handed over his duties as the Patron of the Annual Literature Prize to his daughter-in-law Princess Marie. This means that Marie will be, on behalf of the francophone ambassadors to Denmark, hand out an annual prize for French-language literature in Copenhagen. Of course, both Prince Henrik and Princess Marie are perfectly suited to this job, both being native speakers of French and natives of France itself; as Billed-Bladet writes, the Prince Consort could “…scarcely have found a better successor…”
However, freed of two extra duties,Prince Henrik still has plenty to keep himself busy with; he is patron of 71 charities/organisations, Honoury Chairman of another 51 and President of another 8.
For more information, please see this thread.
alex001 Danish Royals Patronage, Prince Henrik the Prince Consort, Princess Marie
Countess Alexandra of Frederiksborg, the former wife of Prince Joachim, will be selling two of her most ‘delicious’ bags, one by Burberry and one by Versace, on trendsales.dk to benefit UNICEF. Other participating in the celebrity auction include Crown Princess Mary’s stylist Anja Camilla Alajdi and Marianne Dulong. Going on sale on October 5th, the starting price is DKK0, but it is hoped that plenty of money will be raised for a good cause.
For more information, please see this thread.
alex001 Danish Royals Auction, Countess Alexandra, Patronage, UNICEF
It has been announced that on the 1st October Prince Joachim will take over as Chancellor of the Order of the Dannebrog and the Order of the Elephant from the Prince Consort, Prince Henrik. This means that Prince Joachim shall be responsible for overseeing the administrative side of the orders and for the signing of the orders’ certificates.
Prince Joachim will, according to working secretary Henning Fode, be able to carry out much of the work from Schackenborg, but will of course be required in Copenhagen from time to time.
The Order of the Dannebrog is a “means of honouring and rewarding the faithful servants of the modern Danish state for meritorious civil or military service, for a particular contribution to the arts, sciences or business life or for those working for Danish interests” and was established after a 1660 move to break out of the absolutism of the Danish aristocracy.
The unusually named Order of the Elephant is Denmark’s highest order, founded in 1693 by King Christian V and amended in 1958 so that both men and women could become members of the order. The order, headed by the Danish monarch, is worn by the members of the royal family and can be granted to foreign heads of state and, in some circumstances, to an ordinary ‘commoner’. Currently, the only commoner in the order is philanthropist Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller. Other notable knights and former knights include the Emperor of Japan, the King of Sweden, Nelson Mandela and Nicolae Ceauşescu, who is notable as the only knight to have had to leave the order.
For more information, please see this thread.
alex001 Danish Royals Orders, Prince Henrik the Prince Consort, Prince Joachim
Click here to see the images from the LuxAm Cultural Society
Grand Duke Henri and sons Prince Felix, Prince Louis and Prince Sebastien were in the United States early in August on a private visit to witness the dedication of the Luxembourg-America cultural centre with Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle and wife Jessica Doyle, along with various government officials from both Luxembourg and the USA.
Following the ceremony, the Grand-Ducal family and Governor were given a private tour of the centre and then attended a reception for board members and major donors.
The opening was timed to coincide with Luxembourg Heritage Weekend 2009.
For more information, please see this thread.
alex001 Luxembourg Royals Grand Duke Henri, Prince Felix of Luxembourg, Prince Louis, Prince Sebastien, United States of America, Working Visit
According to politiken.dk, the Danish Royal Family will next year receive an increase in their allowances totalling 1.9 million kroner.
The Queen’s husband Prince Henrik will receive a total budget of 7.1 million kroner, which is a rise of 200,000 klroner from last year, whilst Prince Joachim and Princess Marie will receive an increase of 100,000 kroner, for a total of 3.1 million. Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary will have their budget increased by 400,000 kroner, to a total of 17.6 million. Princess Benedikte, sister of Queen Margrethe, will be given a total of 1.1 million kroner, and even Count Ingolf, the cousin of the Queen, will receive an increase of 100,000 kroner.
The former wife of Prince Joachim, Countess Alexandra, will also be given an increased budget of 2.1 million kroner, an increase of 100,000 upon last year. However, as a private citizen, the Countess does not have tax-exempt status and will as such be paying tax upon it.
For more information, please see this thread.
alex001 Danish Royals Count Ingolf, Countess Alexandra, Finances, Margrethe II, Prince Frederik, Prince Henrik the Prince Consort, Prince Joachim, Princess Benedikte, Princess Marie, Princess Mary
Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik have cancelled their annual press conference at the Prince Consort’s castle in the south of France, surprising both the press and royal watchers.
Klaus Kjøller of the University of Copenhagen said that it was a “step in completely the wrong direction” that could only be seen as a “step away from the people”. However, the cancellation could be simply due to the higher-than-normal exposure of the family over the year, what with the christening and Prince Henrik’s 75th birthday party.
Prince Henrik also surprised Danes by cutting short a four-hour engagement which had been in the works for a long time; upon arriving at the Aabenraa Rifle Club, the Prince Consort said that he could not stay for lunch and the shooting that would take place afterwards, instead staying for only half an hour.
For more information, please see this thread.
alex001 Danish Royals Margrethe II, Press Conference, Prince Henrik the Prince Consort
