Grand Duke Henri & Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Current Events 6 March 2008 - May 2014

[alex001]

Some info on the event from the blog:
http://www.theroyalforums.com/4508-grand-duchess-visits-art-exhibition/

 

[kyansaunt20]

On April 6th 2009 Grand Duke Henri received Mr. Modibo Sidibe, Prime Minister of the Republic of the Mali on his official visit to Luxembourg

Cour grand-ducale de Luxembourg - Audience du Premier Ministre de la République du Mali

 

[Lalla Meriem]

Wort has an article today mentioning that a portion of the Grunewald, 850 hectares of which is still private property of the Grand Ducal Family, is open to the public for the first time ever. It mentions that in July 2006 Henri considered selling the Grunewald but that the state lacked the funds required to purchase it. The sale was to be part of the restructuring of the Grand Ducal Families private properties. Since the state lacked the funds to purchase the private forest Henri made another agreement with the state. Under the terms of that agreement during certain times of the year parts of the Grunewald would freely accessible to the general population and the state will pay for a portion of the maintenance and upkeep of the Grunewald. Forty eight new "habitat zones" are also being opened today. These are for the re-population of certain plant and animal species and for protected areas for certain animals/plants already living there.

Information also available at the Court website here

Tageblatt has an article on it also. It mentions at the bottom that in 1934 the state paid 20 million fracs for 776 hectares of the Grunewald and at the same time 20 million francs for Schloss Berg with 8 hectares of land surrounding it. In 1968 37 hectares of land and forest around Schloss Berg where sold to the state for 10 million francs. And, in 1977 Schloss Viandan was sold to the state for 222 million francs and a further 168 hectares of the Grunewald was sold to the state in 2003 for the "proud" price of 3.1 million Euro. Safe to say our GD family isn't exactly in the poor house, however, I believe these funds are probably be part of the estate that is private property but that can only be held or inherited by the Grand Duke aka The Trust of the House of Nassau (this part of the estate is mentioned on the court website here).

Additionally, there is today an article in the New York Times today about Luxembourg which seems to imply that perhaps the monarchy isn't a secure as we thought it is in Luxembourg. I did see another article recently that the monarchy has only a 47% approval rating since that little snafu with the euthanasia bill.

In 1999 when the Belgian/Luxembourg Franc ceased it was fixed at 1 Euro = 40.3399 BEF/LUF or 1 BEF/LUF = € 0.024789. Perhaps someone better with numbers than me could tally up how much the Grand Duchy paid the Grand Ducal family for their historic properties over the years in Euros?

 

[LadyLeana]

Lalla Meriem, I hink it's safe to calculate with those rates, since the francs don't exist any more. So 20 million francs is about 500.000 eur.

 

[Lalla Meriem]

Lalla Meriem, I hink it's safe to calculate with those rates, since the francs don't exist any more. So 20 million francs is about 500.000 eur.

Wow, I hadn't expected it to be so little.

 

[LadyLeana]

Well, 1930's... this is at a time that a bread cost like not even 10 francs, you know. I'm not sure about the inflation rate over 70 years time...

 

[alex001]

http://www.theroyalforums.com/4815-grand-duke-opens-grunewald-forest-to-the-public/
Thanks for the info Lalla Meriem, I've summed it up in the blog here.

And some info from the Cour Grand-Ducale:
Cour grand-ducale de Luxembourg - Ouverture au public de la forêt du Grünewald

 

[Lalla Meriem]

Henri had an engagement yesterday. Cour grand-ducale de Luxembourg - Audience de la société Sources Rosport

 

[Lalla Meriem]

It is shaping up to be a busy week for Henri. Yesterday he met with Kofi Anan and today he met with the Foreign Minister of Russia. And, he and the Grand Duchess offered congratulations to Andy Schleck.

Cour grand-ducale de Luxembourg - Actualités

 

[kyansaunt20]

^ here are some more events: Henri with Minister of Affairs in Russia: Cour grand-ducale de Luxembourg - Audience du Ministre des Affaires étrangères de la Fédération de Russie

and the directors of the Sources Rosport: Cour grand-ducale de Luxembourg - Audience de la société Sources Rosport

 

[Lalla Meriem]

Henri had an audience with the director of the Museum of Modern art in Luxembourg today.

Cour grand-ducale de Luxembourg - Audience du nouveau Directeur général du MUDAM

 

[sgl]

Do you know the reason for their meeting? Is GD Henri a patron of the museum?

 

[Marijke]

Do you know the reason for their meeting? Is GD Henri a patron of the museum?

It's the NEW Director of the Museum.
I think that's the reason!

 

[sgl]

Maria-Teresa looks very pretty. Did she attend the Octave by herself? I didn't see any family members in the photos. The market outside of the church looks like it has a lot of delicious treats. Do the royals typically visit this as well?

 

[Lalla Meriem]

Maria Teresa gave a presentation (in English) for the 54th Annual meeting of the committees of UNICEF held in Luxembourg yesterday. She and the GD also hosted the Director General Madame Veneman of the UNICEF.

Cour grand-ducale de Luxembourg - Presentation by H.R.H. the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg at the 54th Annual Meeting of National Committees for UNICEF -- her speech

http://www.monarchie.lu/fr/Actualites/2009/05/Audience_Veneman/index.html -- picture of the meeting at The Berg

The Grand Duke also received in audience the new President of the CPI (International Criminal Court)

The Grand Duchess is looking quite beautiful lately. She's looking much thinner and happier this year than in years past.

Did she attend the Octave by herself?

Yes, She attended alone.

 

[claypoint2]

I think Maria Teresa's outfit is from Chanel. It's done in the glam style.

It looks like Armani to me, but I'm not sure. At any rate, she looks fantastic.

 

[sgl]

She does look really great. It also looks to me as if she has lost some weight. She looks very relaxed and happy.

 

[rociocristina]

me too i think that in some ocaciones she dresses of armani. For example in the hearing with the director of unicef, I am sure that is of armani

 

[Lalla Meriem]

The Grand Duke was present at the Lux-Expo in Kirchberg a few days ago. He was looking fit and handsome, as usual.

Last year HGD Guillaume attended this event. Henri and Guillaume were both accompanied by the Mayor of Luxembourg City - Paul Helminger, Jeannot Krecké - Minister of Sport, Economy and Trade and another minister who's name I can never remember with the usual formal guards. Any time Henri, Guillaume or Félix attend an event one of those three officals are with them (usually all 3 of them are present).

Pictures here.

 

[kyansaunt20]

^More pictures from the Lux-Expo at The Grand Ducal Website
Cour grand-ducale de Luxembourg - Ouverture de la Foire internationale de Luxembourg Printemps 2009

 

[kyansaunt20]

Grand Duke Henri received in audience Mr. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the Secretary General of NATO during his official visit to Luxembourg on May 25, 2009

Cour grand-ducale de Luxembourg - Audience du Secrétaire général de l'OTAN

 

[kyansaunt20]

The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess attended the Hôtel de Ville Aachen at the ceremony of the International Charlemagne Prize honoring Andrea Riccardi on May 21, 2009

Cour grand-ducale de Luxembourg - Remise du Prix International Charlemagne

More photos here of the event:

Karlspreis 2009 für Andrea Riccardi: Fotos

 

[alex001]

Grand Duke holds audiences: http://www.theroyalforums.com/6875-grand-duke-henri-holds-audiences/

 

[Marijke]

JPEE CHYPRE 2009

WORT:
wort.lu | Fotogalerien | Geglückter Auftakt

RTL:
pressphoto.lu - JPEE Chypre 2009 shooting

 

[alex001]

http://www.theroyalforums.com/8207-grand-duke-and-the-institut-pierre-werner/
Grand Duke Henri and the Institut Pierre Werner, from the blog.

 

[Al_bina]

Yulia Tymoshenko holds a series of bilateral meetings in Luxembourg

In the course of her official visit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg the Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko has held a series of bilateral meetings.
So, Yulia Tymoshenko met with Secretary General of the European Council, High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana and also with Grand-Duke Henri of Luxembourg.
Besides, Yulia Tymoshenko considered issues of bilateral Ukraine-Luxembourg cooperation with Prime Minister, Minister of State, Finance Minister of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker.

Some photos of Mrs. Tymoshenko meeting Grand Duke Henri
photo1
photo2
photo3

 

[Mrs Littrell]

I've seen it in the news! On the 1 picture it's not Yulia

 

[alex001]

I've seen it in the news! On the 1 picture it's not Yulia

I'm pretty sure I can see her there...

 

[Mrs Littrell]

I guess it was fixed! Now there is Yulia

 

[alex001]

Oh good, I'm not going crazy and seeing things which don't exist .