As “Lieutenant-Representant”, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume (42) will then take on “certain responsibilities”, while Grand Duke Henri (69) will remain head of state, the State Ministry and the Grand Ducal Palace announced. It is still unclear when Henri will abdicate.
Grand Duke Henri has been head of state of the second smallest country in the European Union since October 7, 2000. In June, on Luxembourg’s national holiday, he announced that he would make his son governor. Henri himself had become “lieutenant-representant” two and a half years before his father Jean’s abdication. Luxembourg is one of six EU states, along with the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and Spain, that do not have an elected head of state.
It is unclear which competencies the future heir to the throne will assume, said Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Luxembourg, Luc Heuschling, to the German Press Agency. It depends on what Grand Duke Henri decides in agreement with the government. According to the new constitution of 2023, it is possible to transfer all activities of the head of state to the deputy. The corresponding Article 58 is “very vague”, like the previous constitutions.
In his opinion, the Luxembourg government should officially define and make public “the limits of the governor’s exercise of authority.” Guillaume’s appointment as “Lieutenant-Représentant” will be countersigned by Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc Frieden on Tuesday.
Heuschling is critical of the role of the deputy. “There is something absurd about the representation itself,” said the Luxembourg monarchy expert. In a monarchy – and this also applies to a parliamentary democracy that only retains the form of the monarchy – there should in principle only be one head of state: “The question arises: Why do we need the same work that was previously done by an individual? was made, now two incumbents: a regent and a co-regent?”
There are European monarchies in which the appointment of a deputy made sense for geographical reasons in the past. This was also the case in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, before it got its own dynasty in 1890. Previously there had been a personal union with the Netherlands – the Dutch king was also Grand Duke of Luxembourg, but was based in the Netherlands. In 1850, King Grand Duke Wilhelm III. appointed his brother Heinrich as deputy for Luxembourg.
Today, however, in Luxembourg there is “actually no reason to appoint a deputy,” said Heuschling. To date, there have been five deputies in the Grand Duchy, which has existed as a state since 1830. According to the constitution, there is no time limit for this.
However, the lawyer assumes that the period until Guillaume’s official accession to the throne “will not last too long”. Henri will choose a favorable moment “when there are no critical discussions about the monarchy of Luxembourg.”
Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume has been married to Princess Stéphanie, a Belgian countess, since October 2012. The two have two sons. Luxembourg is the only Grand Duchy in the world that still exists today and has around 670,000 inhabitants. Grand Duke is a title for monarchs in the rank between king and duke.
