Grand Duke Jean, 94, made a rare public appearance Tuesday to mark the 70th anniversary of the return from exile of his mother Grand Duchess Charlotte on 14 April 1945. He was joined by his son Grand Duke Henri and daughter in law Grand Duchess Maria Teresa. In their name flowers were placed at the foot of a monument to the 'fearless Duchess', as Charlotte was known during the war years.
Charlotte and her family had fled for the occupying German troops on May 10, 1940. She spent the years in exile exhorting her country men to resist the nazi regime, expressing her strong belief that the Allied cause would win in the end. She travelled widely in Canada and the US, and sent her children to school in Montréal, Québec.
Her husband Prince Félix of Bourbon-Parma, brother of Empress Zita of Austria, and son Prince Jean (to become Grand Duke Jean when he succeeded her in 1964) took part in the first liberation of Luxembourg in September 1944. The Germans however turned around and re-occupied large chunks of the Grand Duchy again that winter, only to be kicked out again in February 1945. That openened the way for the Grand Duchess to return to her home as well.
© Royalblog, Hans Jacobs, with Marius Cirtiu
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