HRH Grand Duc Jean at 90;
Credit: © Cour grand-ducale / Vic Fischbach
On Saturday 5 January 2019, HRH Grand Duke Jean, father of the current Grand Duke Henri, will celebrate his 98th birthday.
Grand Duke Jean was born at the Château de Berg in Colmar on 5 January 1921. In October 1942 he joined the Irish Guards and completed his training at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and later served as a guard at Buckingham Palace. Later, he received training for the Normandy landings on D-Day and landed in Normandy on 11 June 1944.
On 10 September 1944, he returned to Luxembourg, crossing the border at Rodange, at the same place where the Grand Duchess had had to leave the country on 10 May 1940. Then, during the Battle of the Bulge, he was stationed between Tienen and Namur. At the beginning of April 1945, Prince Jean received the order to return to Luxembourg, where the arrival of Grand Duchess Charlotte was expected. On 14 April 1945, he was in the country to greet his mother and an overjoyed population.
On 9 April 1953, HRH Prince Jean married HRH Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium at Luxembourg Cathedral. The Hereditary Grand Duke and Hereditary Grand Duchess started a family at the Château de Betzdorf and it was here that Princess Marie-Astrid, Prince Henri, Prince Jean, Princess Margaretha and Prince Guillaume were born.
On 12 November 1964, Grand Duchess Charlotte signed her act of abdication and Jean, the Hereditary Grand Duke, became the eighth Luxembourg sovereign since the founding of the Grand Duchy in 1815. On 7 October 2000, Grand Duke Jean ended his reign, stepping down in favour of his son, Grand Duke Henri.
