The amateur public of the celebrity press knows very well how many illegitimate children the Prince of Monaco has. Among our neighbors, French and German, we are also very well informed about the state of relations between the British princes William and Harry. As well as the nicotine addiction of the Danish Queen Margarethe or the escapades of Marius Borg Høiby, the son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway.
What happens in Luxembourg, at the Grand Ducal Court, on the other hand, would be much less important for experts from the nobility and other assiduous followers of crowned heads. In any case, this is the conclusion of an article published by the German weekly Stern on its website. The “Moselle monarchy”, thus designated by the author David Baum, would be a white spot on the world map, a “terra incognita”, in terms of media coverage by the tabloid press.
The Hamburg editorial team sees in the wealth of the Court of Luxembourg one of the reasons for its discretion.
In Germany, we tend to forget that Luxembourg is a monarchy. Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa are simply not important figures for the German media, unlike Jean-Claude Juncker, Léa Linster, Désirée Nosbusch or Vicky Krieps, thanks to whom the country “has pace for a population barely larger than that of Stuttgart.
This is only the first step in the transfer of power from the Grand Duke to his son Guillaume, lieutenant representative since Tuesday, who has punctually put the “too boring” Grand Ducal Court at the center of press attention. . The magazine Stern took the opportunity to wonder who “these discreet royals who rule the only Grand Duchy in the world” really are.
A media fantasy
The Hamburg-based editorial team sees in the wealth of the Luxembourg Court one of the reasons for its remarkable discretion. “Internationally, they would rank eighth among the wealthiest sovereign houses. In Europe, only Prince Hans Adam II of Liechtenstein, Henry’s brother-in-law, would own more. But this is precisely what has been debated for years: Henri’s private fortune is estimated sometimes at 4.6, sometimes at 3.3 billion euros,” we can read in the magazine Stern. The Grand Duke always indignantly denies these figures by his press service, notes the headline, highlighting the use of the expression “media fantasies”.
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The Grand Duke’s lifestyle must be as little visible as possible, especially since the Waringo report which, four years ago, denounced the high expenses of the Grand Ducal Court, with annual telephone charges of half a million euros and a negligent separation of private and public property.
During his reign, Grand Duke Henry succeeded in bringing the ruling family into the modern era. “We have a multicultural approach and we are open to immigration, especially if the new citizens are wealthy and contribute to the prosperity of the country. During this time, the population has grown massively, from 440,000 residents at the turn of the millennium to around 660,000 today. The fact that he himself is married to Maria Teresa Mestre Batista, a Cuban by birth whose family had emigrated to the United States, fits perfectly,” observes the magazine Sternwhich in passing damages the name of the Grand Duchess.
Finally something sexy, because in the end it sounded like a threat.
Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie would have provided the “media with a topic of conversation which did not last long”: the couple would have been desperate because “it took a few years for them to give birth to children” . The sons Charles and “Joseph”, as Stern still forking a first name from the Grand Ducal family, thus designating little François, would however have put a brutal end to these speculations.
The generational change in Luxembourg, however, has revealed a new “media openness that the father and son demonstrate”. This was not manifested by the fact that the Grand Ducal Court suddenly accepted critical questions from journalists, but by the podcast that Henri and Guillaume recorded with the radio station 100,7 et RTL.
Video: Maison du Grand-Duc / Editing: Christophe Olinger
Grand Duke Henri declared: “I have the impression that the monarchy is quite appreciated in Luxembourg. It is normal that republican ideas also exist here in the country. And of course, if people wanted another system, that’s their choice, they are free to do as they want. If people no longer want a monarchy here, then we will do something else. I have a lot of other interests.” The Stern writes about this about the podcast: “they presented themselves as two very trustworthy representatives, who did not have an urgent need to sell their merchandise. Finally, something seemed sexy, because in the end, it sounded like a threat.
This article was originally published on the website of Luxembourg word.
Adaptation: Christophe Lemaire
