Grand Duke Guillaume officially ascended to the throne of Luxembourg on Friday, taking his oath in a traditional ceremony attended by European heads of state and fellow royals. As church bells pealed, hundreds gathered outside the Grand Palace erupted into chants of “Guillaume, Guillaume!” as the new grand duke appeared on a balcony to greet his eager subjects.
The 43-year-old, resplendent in an olive-green military uniform adorned with a yellow sash, was joined by his royal family. His wife, Grand Duchess Stéphanie, wore a sky-blue gown, and they carried their two young sons, five-year-old designated heir Charles and two-year-old François, both dressed in shorts.
Just moments earlier Guillaume had taken the throne after swearing the sovereign’s oath in Luxembourg’s parliament.
âI will live the life of my people, from whom I do not want to be separated by any barrier. I will share their joys and sufferings,â Guillaume said, quoting a 1919 speech by one of his predecessors, the Grand Duchess Charlotte, in his first address to the nation. He drew a parallel between the carnage of World War I and geopolitical tensions today.
âA symbol of the principles of freedom and unity enshrined in our Constitution, the monarchy has remained â then as now â a constant point of reference and a steadfast support in times of crisis. In this sense, the oath I have just taken on the Constitution marks a significant institutional milestone for our country.â
Grand Duke Guillaume takes over from his father Henri, 70, who had served for 25 years in the largely symbolic role.
The crowd gathered outside the yellow stone and ornate turrets of the palace carried photographs of the new grand duke and duchess, others flags of Luxembourg and the red lion and orange fields of the Royal House of Nassau. Some people had their faces painted in the Luxembourg flag: red, white and light blue.
All across the old city of Luxembourg, storefronts boasted portraits of the royal couple and blue banners commemorated âTrounweisselâ or âascension to the throneâ in Luxembourgish.
Nefeni Neocleousk, 18, wore a Luxembourgish flag across her shoulders and wished the grand duke well in the Luxembourgish language.
âMaach dat gudd! Du packs dat!” she said, which means âDo it well, you will succeed.â
Royals from the Netherlands and Belgium attended the ceremonies. Later on Friday, the new grand duke will host an evening gala for guests including French President Emmanuel Macron and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Guillaume is Luxembourgâs seventh grand duke since 1890, when the modern monarchy was established. On Saturday and Sunday he will tour his new realm, a tiny duchy â the size of Rhode Island â of 700,000 citizens in the heart of Europe.
The tour will end with a Sunday Mass with Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich at the Catholic Notre-Dame de Luxembourg cathedral.
An official supplier to the Royal Court, Lea Linster, 70, dropped off roughly 200 madeleines, a small shell-shaped sponge cake, for staff at the ceremonies. Sheâs selling commemorative boxes of the cakes with Guillaume and StĂ©phanie designed to look like âa romantic fairytaleâ reflective of Luxembourgâs picturesque landscape of castles and forests.
When Guillaume was 13, she began teaching him to cook dishes like Bouneschlupp, a hearty green bean and ham soup.
Sitting beneath portraits of the French novelist Marcel Proust and a Grand Duke Henri, Linster said Guillaumeâs kindness and empathy will do him well as sovereign â and heâll be able to feed the family.
âYou can feel that he is the son of a couple of parents who loved each other very much,â she said, of Guillaume. âHeâs very emotive, very sensitive. So I love that and I think he will be a beautiful Grand Duke for us.â
Cleaved from part of what are now France, Belgium and Germany in the 17th and 19th centuries, the small nation is a parliamentary democracy with the grand duke as head of state, akin to King Charles in the United Kingdom or King Philippe in Belgium. Roughly 700,000 citizens speak a mix of Luxembourgish, a Germanic language, and French and German in public life. It is the worldâs last remaining grand duchy.
One of the European Unionâs smallest nations and its richest per capita, Luxembourg is a financial powerhouse that hosts important EU institutions like the European Court of Justice and the European Investment Bank. The grand duchy is home to many of the banks in the eurozone, reinsurance companies and managers of hedge funds and money markets.
Guillaume will be Luxembourgâs seventh grand duke since 1890, when the modern monarchy was established. Across the duchy, his photo has replaced that of his fatherâs. His monogram, symmetrical golden âGâ letters below a crown, has also been added to the uniforms of the army, the police, emergency services, the prison service and customs.
Guillaume, like Henri, was educated in France, Switzerland and at the United Kingdomâs military academy, Sandhurst. Guillaume then worked for Belgian, German and Spanish firms.
Christoph BrĂŒll, a historian and professor at the University of Luxembourg, said Guillaume will be stepping into a very traditional role.
âHis margin of maneuver or right to action is zero. So the only power he has is then the power of speech or words. For the rest, the grand duke will remain a political symbol,â he said.
