Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg Dies, Aged 98

The Cour-Grand Ducale of Luxembourg announced this morning that Grand Duke Jean, the grand duchy’s 98-year-old former monarch, passed away.

“It is with great sadness that I inform you of the death of my beloved father, His Royal Highness Grand Duke Jean, who has passed away in peace, surrounded by the affection of his family,” the statement issued by Grand Duke Henri read. Grand Duke Jean had been hospitalised last week with pneumonia.

Grand Duke Jean was born in January 1921 as the eldest child of Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg and Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma. He was educated in Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and Canada, before joining the British Army’s Irish Guards in November 1942 after the Grand Ducal Family fled their country when it was invaded by Nazi Germany in 1940. Jean graduated from the Royal Military College Sandhurst as a lieutenant and was part of the D-Day Landings in Normandy and participated in the liberation of Brussels and Luxembourg.

He married Belgian Princess Joséphine-Charlotte in 1953, with whom he had five children: Marie-Astrid, Henri, Jean, Margaretha and Guillaume. From the couple’s children, Jean was a grandfather of twenty-two and a great-grandfather of fifteen.

Jean took the throne of Luxembourg in November 1964 upon the abdication of his mother, reigning for just under 36 years until his own abdication in October 2000.

His state funeral will take place on Saturday May 4th.

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