The abdication of Grand Duke Henri and the accession of his successor mark a rare and deeply symbolic moment in Luxembourg, a country that prides itself on stability, continuity and pragmatism. The change of throne is more than a constitutional formality. After all, Luxembourg would have to give up its claim of being the only grand duchy in the world if it got rid of its grand duke.
In many ways, the monarchy stands in awkward contrast to Luxembourg’s liberal democracy, and Henri’s reign has been marred by several watershed moments that redefined that relationship.
In 2008, he refused to sign a bill into law legalising euthanasia. It was a law that had been adopted by parliament – the country’s elected representatives. Yet here was a largely symbolic figurehead blocking it from being enacted.
Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa also appeared to strain against the reforms of the Waringo report, the government-commissioned survey on the workings of the royal household.
Following the report, the government aimed to bring palace communications under closer control. However, shortly afterwards, the couple spoke with French magazine Paris Match without the knowledge of then-Prime Minister Xavier Bettel.
Bettel, who serves as deputy PM and foreign minister in the current government, was noticeably absent from a documentary film produced to mark 25 years of Henri’s reign.
The Grand Duke scraped against the boundary of public versus private persona on occasion, for example when he attended the opening of the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022, boycotted by most Western leaders over the regime’s human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region.
While he officially attended as a member of the International Olympic Committee, he also met President Xi Jinping for political talks as Luxembourg’s head of state.
Guillaume is the first grand duke to be sworn in since the Waringo report, which prompted changes to bring greater transparency to the palace, and a 2022 update of the constitution that further separated the office from Luxembourg’s executive and parliamentary powers. It is in that sense a new beginning for the institution. The rules for Guillaume’s reign are clear, where Henri’s often tested the limits of his role.
The monarch has no electorate to satisfy and no opposition to point fingers at
The incoming monarch inherits not just a throne, but also the responsibility to ensure that this institution survives and evolves in the 21st century. In an age of permacrisis – housing, cost of living, populism and the swing to the right, climate change, transatlantic discord, war in Ukraine and Gaza – the monarch has no electorate to satisfy and no opposition to point fingers at.
That can be a quiet strength but it can also leave the institution looking weak and toothless.
With two-thirds of Luxembourg voters in a June survey agreeing that parliamentary monarchy is the best form of government for the country, Guillaume is well-placed to reaffirm the royal family not just as an archaic relic but as a living institution.
At home, that will mean being a ruler who serves, listens and inspires. Abroad, he will embody Luxembourg wherever he goes. In a world where this small country often risks being seen only as a financial hub or tax haven, the monarch has the power to project a different image: of a nation rooted in history, committed to Europe and open to the world.