Grand Duke Henri indicated this Sunday that he would begin transferring his powers to his son William in October, a decisive step paving the way for the monarch’s abdication.
Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg announced on Sunday that he would begin transferring his powers to his son Guillaume in October, a decisive step paving the way for the monarch’s abdication. “I would like to inform you that I have decided to appoint Prince Guillaume as Lieutenant-Representative in October,” said Henri, 69, in a speech on the occasion of the national day of the Grand Duchy, a small monarchy. constitutional region of 660,000 inhabitants located between France, Germany and Belgium.
This transmission signifies a first step towards the gradual withdrawal of the Grand Duke who acceded to the throne in October 2000 and the beginning of the transfer of the crown to Guillaume, 42 years old. “It is with all my love and trust that I wish him good luck,” continued the Grand Duke at the Luxembourg Philharmonie in front of the highest representatives of the State and the royal family. The designation of the Lieutenant Representative consists of the delegation of certain powers to the descendant of the Nassau family with a view to a change of sovereign, the date of which is uncertain.
A fortune estimated at several billion dollars
Grand Duke Henri had already shared his wish to abdicate and said he had defined a timetable with his family, but this was not communicated and this Sunday’s announcement came to everyone’s surprise since it did not did not appear in the speech broadcast beforehand. Henri, a passionate sportsman whose fortune is estimated at several billion dollars, acceded to the crown after the abdication of his father Jean after 36 years of reign. Prince Guillaume is the eldest of five children of the royal couple, Henri de Nassau and Maria Teresa Mestre.
The future Grand Duke has been married to Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy since 2012. They are parents of two boys, Prince Charles and Prince François, born in 2020 and 2023 respectively. The Grand Duke promulgates laws or intervenes in the formation of the government after the elections, but it mainly occupies a symbolic function. It represents “the identity of the country, its independence, the unity of the territory and the permanence of the State”, details the Court’s website.