Death of Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte: January 10, 2005

[GrandDuchess]

The cathedral looks very nice, thanks for the pics and the text!

 

[gaggleofcrazypeople]

2000 white roses, 300 white orchids and 300 white azaleas were yesterday in a transporter near the chorus room of the cathedral. During the funeral they will accompany the Grand Duchess Josephine Charlotte on "her last way". Roses were the favourite flowers of the Grand Duchess and white was her favourite colour...

Wow! I didn't know that!

I think JC is currently at the Cathedral. I don't think Guillaume and the bunch have been seen mourning in public, but I'm sure they are mourning in private.

 

[Ephram]

Royalty out in force for funeral of Luxembourg grand duchess

Fri Jan 14, 3:13 PM ET
Entertainment - AFP



LUXEMBOURG (AFP) - Members of 15 royal houses from Europe and beyond will be in attendance Saturday for the funeral of Luxembourg Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte, who died this week aged 77.


AFP/File Photo


Luxembourg authorities said Friday that the burial service would be held at the national cathedral at 1110 GMT.



A 21-gun salute will boom out, while the pallbearers will be drawn from the royal family and the tiny country's armed forces.



Josephine-Charlotte, the Belgian-born mother of Luxembourg's reigning monarch Grand Duke Henri, died of lung cancer on Monday.



Her younger brother, King Albert II, will lead the delegation of mourners from neighbouring Belgium.



Also in attendance are expected to be Spanish Queen Sofia, Queen Margrethe II II of Denmark, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Norway's Queen Sonja and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.



The British royal family will be represented by Prince Andrew, while Japan's Prince Akishino, Jordan's Prince El Hassan Bin and Prince Albert of Monaco are also expected.



Representatives of three former royal houses, from Bulgaria, Greece and Iran, will also attend.






Courtesy of Yahoo News and AFP

 

[gaggleofcrazypeople]

Who are those people standing next to the coffin?

Why isn't Queen Elizabeth going?

 

[Ephram]

I don't know. She is the most superior monarch on earth and if she is going , she will likely be given a very special position. Last time she went to the Funeral of King Baudouin of Belgium and never attended anything like this any more

 

[gaggleofcrazypeople]

I don't think she is the most superior, she just thinks she is.

 

[Ephram]

Who are those people standing next to the coffin?

Again, I also don't know. This picture is taken from RTL site and those people standing next to the coffin look like scout girls. So very informal right?, don't you think so?

In other countries, when their royals passed away, members of royal family or military officials complete with their various military dresses and decorations will safeguard the coffin all day long but this one they only put scouts?

But superior or not, sadly she will not attend.

 

[Nathalian]

Me too....i think that she´s know all the world...but, she´s the same as Queen Sofia, Silvia, Sonja, Beatrix, Paola......but, since she´s from UK......you know where i´m getting...but, it´s a shame she´s not going...

 

[gaggleofcrazypeople]

Isn't she going to be in Germany in two weeks?

That doesn't make much sense.

 

[Ephram]

Courtesy of The Canadian Press

Luxembourg prepares lavish royal funeral for grand duchess
01:42 AM EST Jan 15



LUXEMBOURG (AP) - Luxembourg prepared to bury Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte, the mother of the reigning monarch, on Saturday with music by Bach and Mozart and the white roses she loved.

Josephine-Charlotte died of lung cancer Monday at age 77. She married Grand Duke Jean, who ruled the country of 450,000 people from 1964 until 2000, when he abdicated in favour of his son Henri, the current monarch, in 2000.

The 15-minute funeral cortege will thread its way through the narrow, historic centre of Luxembourg, going from the gingerbread grand ducal palace to the Cathedral of Our Lady, which holds the royal crypt.

A 21-gun salute - at 30-second intervals - will sound over the city and its massive, old ramparts that hover over the deep, picturesque ravine of the Alzette River.

Bystanders lining the funeral route will be asked to toss the petals of white roses as the casket is taken to the cathedral for the burial and funeral mass.

The cathedral itself has been decorated with 2,000 white roses as well as 600 white orchids and azaleas. White was the grand duchess's favourite color, the rose her favourite flower.

Expected to attend the funeral are Josephine-Charlotte's brother, King Albert of Belgium; her husband, the former monarch and their five children, Grand Duke Henri, princes Jean and Guillaume and princesses Marie-Astrid and Margaretha.

After a funeral mass, the grand ducal family is to accompany Josephine-Charlotte's coffin into the crypt that contains the tombs of Luxembourg bishops and royalty. The coffin will be placed in a space below the crypt's stone floor.

On Friday, the national parliament stood in silence for one minute in memory of the grand duchess, who died 10 days after Luxembourg assumed the six-month presidency of the European Union. The government scaled back some EU-related events during the period of official mourning.

Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte Ingeborg Elisabeth Marie Jose Marguerite Astrid was born Oct. 11, 1927, at the Belgian royal palace in Brussels.

The daughter of Belgian King Leopold III and Swedish-born Queen Astrid, she spent her childhood in private schools in Belgium.

On June 7, 1944 - one day after the allied D-Day landings in Normandy - the Belgian royal family was deported to Germany.

In May, 1945, they moved to Geneva, Switzerland, because King Leopold could not return home due to an intense controversy in Belgium over his wartime conduct that brought the country to the brink of civil war.

In Geneva, Josephine Charlotte studied child psychology. On April 9, 1953, she married Prince Jean of Luxembourg, then heir to the grand ducal throne of the tiny country surrounded by France, Germany and Belgium. Throughout her reign, she showed an interest in childhood and family issues, health and the arts and headed the Luxembourg Red Cross.

 

[Ephram]

It's just about two hours more. Here is the complete guestlist


" Chefs d'État des Cours Royales ou représentants des maisons royales régnantes et ex-régnantes (doc/160 Ko) "

Click on the above sentence on this this site
http://www.gouvernement.lu/dossiers/viepol/grande_duchesse_josephine_charlotte/dossier_de_presse/index.html

 

[Ephram]

Hallo drimal,

Will the live streaming of the funeral also start at 10.15am?

 

[drimal]

Hallo drimal,

Will the live streaming of the funeral also start at 10.15am?

Yes, the live streaming will also start at 10.15 am.

And here is a time zone table! Luxembourg is in the 12h MEZ (GMT) Zone.

 

[Hannelore]

the guestlist is not complete, there will of course be members of german royal houses as well...and others.

 

[msfroyste]

the girl scouts are probably there b/c she was the president of their orginization, i think. i think it's a refreshing touch to see ppl from the orginizations that she was patron of standing gaurd over her coffin.

 

[Alexandria]

Here is the thread for pictures, a guestlist and information and reports on the funeral of Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte, held today, 15 January 2005:

http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4658&page=1&pp=20

 

[maria-olivia]

Thanks for sharing , our former policemen.. great