As some of you know, I am a resident of the small European country of Luxembourg. And right now, we are all abuzz with the upcoming transfer of power from our currently reigning monarch to his son. Both my kids are among students who will be joining class field trips to attend the ceremonies, for example. It’s a big deal here.
And yet, I’ve looked around a bit, and as far as I can tell, this event is getting zero coverage (or close to it) in the international media. There is, of course, a lot of other competing news right now, and we’re pretty obscure on the world stage, so that’s perhaps not surprising.
Nevertheless, a royal coronation is a glitzy, glamorous spectacle, so I’m posting this with some basic information and some local news articles, for anyone who’s interested.
First, some basic questions:
Luxembourg is a monarchy? So you have a king?
Not a king, a Grand Duke (or occasionally Grand Duchess). We’re the only Grand Duchy in the world.
So the old Grand Duke died, and his son gets to take over?
Nobody died. Grand Duke Henri announced his abdication a few months ago. On Friday, he officially steps down and his son Guillaume becomes Grand Duke.
Is Henri sick? Was there a scandal? Why did he quit?
Not really. Luxembourg has a longstanding tradition where the monarch retires and hands off power. We haven’t had a Grand Duke (or Duchess) die in office for more than a hundred years. (That said, this is a royal family, so there’s always a little bit of scandal. But ours are boring, compared to the shenanigans in Buckingham Palace. Most recently, there was some finger-wagging because the Grand Duke’s wife apparently yelled at some of the house staff one time.)
If the Grand Duke is a reigning monarch, does he have any power? I thought Europe was pretty much democratic.
The Grand Duke’s office is strictly ceremonial. His is the final signature on every law after it’s passed by the legislature, judicial appointments are made in his name after they’re agreed by the relevant panels, and so on, but his role is entirely symbolic. (This wasn’t always the case. A couple of decades ago, Henri refused to sign off on an assisted-suicide law, on religious grounds. The legislature swiftly assembled to make a Constitutional adjustment explicitly stating that the Grand Duke has a duty to affirm, full stop. He is now, fully and officially, just a rubber stamp.)
What’s it like living in a monarchy?
It’s mostly the same as any other Western democracy, except you see portraits of the Royal Couple behind the counter at a fair number of local businesses (just like you’ll see the Thai king on the wall at many Thai restaurants). Also, our national patriotic holiday (akin to the American Fourth of July) is held in the name of the Grand Duke.
Feel free to ask any other questions, if you like, and I’ll try to answer.
Here’s some local news coverage about the Friday transition.
Rundown on the events planned:
Puff-piece biography on the incoming Grand Duke:
Interview with a constitutional law professor discussing the place of the monarchy in modern Luxembourg:
Category page on the same site with a bunch more articles in English (Trounwiessel literally means “change of throne” in Luxembourgish):
And finally, this is the only international news story I could find about the event (there’s nothing on CNN, The Guardian, etc.):
