Now this just begs for details. What did the staff do to upset her? Did the Grand Duke give her a stern talking-to about it?
Just another reason not to trust the legacy media - suppressing news of the Luxembourgian succession!
You hardly ever hear anything about Liechtenstein either, except for banking and skiing. 
Whenever I hear “Grand Duchy” I think Fenwick.
Have a fun day!
This is different, at least in principle, from the constitutional monarchy in Britain and those Commonwealth countries that use that system. In Canada, for instance, the Governor General, who represents the monarch, theoretically has considerable reserve powers, although they’re very rarely exercised. In modern times, I don’t believe that royal assent has ever been refused for enacted legislation, nor the leader of the winning party (even if only a minority) not been invited to form the next government.
However, the GG has in fact been involved in yes/no decisions about a Prime Minister’s request to prorogue Parliament, and there was a big kerfuffle some years ago when two parties tried to band together in a coalition to overthrow the ruling minority party. IIRC, the GG said no, and that was the end of it.
I know they once invaded the United States and won because we were (ironically) in the middle of a civil defense drill.
Hm, last time I looked on a map, Luxembourg was land-locked in the middle of Europe and doesn’t have a navy. How could they have invaded the USA?
Transport on a small merchant ship. It was only their Field Marshal, 3 men-at-arms and 20 longbowmen so they didn’t need a large transport.
I kinda remember that they wanted to lose and then ask for a Marshall Plan?
Catching up with some questions.
First, it’s unfair to dismiss us as uninteresting if the only thing you know about us is wrong. Yes, there are rich bankers. But they’re all in Luxembourg City. The rest of the country is farmland, forests, and an occasional fortress. It’s not wall-to-wall vaults of hoarded cash, and it’s pretty insulting to make the implication.
Second, as far as whether there’s any compelling argument for paying attention to us: In the practical, day-to-day sense, no, not really. However, if you have any interest in the last thousand years of European history, from Holy Roman Emperors through Napoleon up to the founding of the EU, knowledge of Luxembourg’s role is essential. It’s nicknamed “the cockpit of Europe” for good reason. Now, if you don’t care at all about European history or politics, and you make no claims for understanding and offer no opinions about the continent, then feel free to ignore us.
When the handover date was announced, back in December (link), there was no specific explanation why it had been chosen, and as far as I’m aware there’s been no clarification since.
No holiday has been declared. School (and everything else) is proceeding normally. Only students who have parental permission are joining the invited groups to meet the new Grand Duke in the city center. We were happy to grant permission, because how often does one get the opportunity to do something like this?
Not much has been made public. Evidently there was some chaos at a family event and the Grand Duchess berated the staff for poor organization. The Prime Minister had to get involved to smooth things over. Here’s an article from February 2023.
Incidentally, now that the event is upon us, it appears that some of the international media outlets are tossing in an occasional article. Here’s one.
Oh, and one last bit of interesting trivia:
The current Grand Duke, Henri, is abdicating in favor of his eldest son, Guillaume. Next in line, of course, is Guillaume’s elder child Charles, who is five years old (and who, despite being a small child, has his own wiki article because he’s a royal). When Guillaume officially takes the throne, Charles will be the youngest heir-apparent in the world at the moment.
I’m very glad you appreciate your adopted country. I should have either remained silent, or phrased my comments more politely. But finance IS - by far - the largest portion of Lux’s GDP, no? And the standard of living quite high - even among the farmers and forest-dwellers? I’m trying to figure how big 100 sq miles is. Probably about from my home west of Chicago, east to the lake, and N to Wisconsin. A pretty tiny slice of the planet.
In terms of history - sure, they were major players 1000 years ago. But for the 500 or so prior to the 1800s, weren’t they sliced, diced, and traded among the major players?
I’m sure it is a nice place. Funny that I did quite a bit of reading of European history over the past couple of years, but I don’t recall a single mention of Lux. About all I know is they are part of Benelux. But don’t feel bad. I know little about Albania, Montenegro, Slovenia…
Yeah, this is a pretty cool opportunity for your kids. I hope they enjoy it!
And free public transport.
And the Hopping Procession of Echternach. All together now:
It’s just a jump to the left
And then a step to the right
With your hands on your hips
You bring your knees in tight
Moderating:
Yes, you should have. You really need to learn the lesson I previously mentioned to you, that if you don’t have anything nice to say, perhaps it’s best to say nothing at all. Much better than thread-shitting.
The OP wished to educate others about his adopted country. If you’re not interested in that, no need to say anything. What purpose was there to your comments other than to be unpleasant?
Because you have been warned about doing this previously, this is another Warning for engaging in thread shitting yet again.
Aka, in Luxembourgish, “D’Iechternacher Sprangprëssessioun.”
Which they still have every year!
Another update: for anyone who’s interested, Reuters is hosting a livestream of the event on their youtube channel.
Happy Trounwiessel!
Is the local language (Luxembourgish) spoken much in public, and is it taught in schools?
Yes and yes.
When my kids talk to their friends, it’s the primary language used. French is second and German is a distant third for communication between young people.
Exception: some of my kids’ friends prefer to speak to them in English, because it’s taught as an elective in schools and the fact that my kids are native speakers means those friends get an excellent chance to practice.
Among adults, it depends where you are in the country. In the main city, and to the southwest, French predominates. In the north and east, you hear mostly Luxembourgish as the preferred tongue in casual conversation (though everyone is multi lingual and can switch if needed).
I’ve been watching the live stream I posted above. When Luxembourg City’s mayor spoke to the crowd, she started in Luxembourgish and switched to French halfway through, almost in mid sentence.
Incidentally, the native name of the language is lëtzebuergesch and is roughly pronounced “letsa-boyish.”
What would you say, is Luxembourgish a dialect/variant of German or rather a hybrid of German and French?