Princess Claire of Luxembourg Celebrates 37th Birthday

Her Royal Highness Princess Claire of Luxembourg, born on 21 March 1985 in Filderstadt in southern Germany, will celebrate her 37th birthday on Monday.

Princess Claire, born Claire Margareta Lademacher, is the second child of Hartmut and Gabriele Lademacher. She has an older brother, Félix Lademacher. She spent her childhood with her family in Usingen in Hessen, Germany).

In December 2012, the Office of the Marshal of the Court announced the engagement of Claire Lademacher and Prince Félix of Luxembourg. Their wedding took place on 21 September 2013 in the Basilica of Sainte Marie-Madeleine de Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume in France. Upon her wedding, she received the title of "Her Royal Highness Princess Claire of Luxembourg, Princess of Nassau".

Princess Claire and Prince Félix are parents to a girl and a boy: Princess Amalia Gabriela Maria Teresa, born on 15 June 2014 at the Maternité Grande-Duchesse Charlotte in Luxembourg, and Prince Liam Henri Hartmut, born on 28 November 2016 at the Clinique Générale-Beaulieu in Geneva, Switzerland.

Education and work

After completing her primary school education in Germany, Princess Claire and her family moved to Atlanta (USA), where she attended Atlanta International School. In addition to German, her native language, she speaks English, French and Italian.

In 1999, the Lademacher family returned to Germany. Princess Claire then attended Frankfurt International School before spending two years at the boarding school of the Collège Alpin Beau Soleil in Switzerland, where she met Prince Félix. In 2003, she obtained the English A-Levels diploma with honours (Prize of Excellency).

Princess Claire studied International Communications at the American University of Paris, where she graduated in 2007.

She gained some first-hand work experience at the Condé Nast publishing house in New York and Munich, before working at IMG World in Berlin.

In 2009, after obtaining a Master’s degree in Bioethics with summa cum laude at the Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum University in Rome, Princess Claire enrolled in doctoral studies in the same field. Simultaneously, she worked for the UNESCO Chair of Bioethics and Human Rights. In order to obtain her PhD, Princess Claire presented her thesis on the ethical aspects of consent to organ donation in Rome. As part of the research for her thesis, she was invited as guest researcher at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.

Together with her husband, Prince Félix, Princess Claire has been managing the Château les Crostes wine estate in Lorgues since 2013 and she is co-founder of the Young Empire company, a children’s clothing and decorating brand.

Alongside her professional and family commitments, she is still closely following the developments in the field of bioethics. In February 2018, Princess Claire was a visiting professor at the Faculty of Bioethics at the Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum University in Rome. In March 2018, the Princess attended the Ethics in Action ("Modern Slavery, Human Trafficking, and Access to Justice for the Poor and Vulnerable") conference at the Pontificia Academia Scientiarum of the Vatican.

In March 2019, she was a speaker in the panel discussion on the inclusion of children born of rape at the Stand Speak Rise Up! conference organised at the initiative of Her Royal Highness the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.

Official activities

Princess Claire takes part in a number of ceremonies and official activities such as Luxembourg's National Day and the traditional closing ceremony of the Octave. She also participates in other activities of the Grand Ducal Family.

In line with her academic background, Princess Claire is involved with the non-profit association Luxembourg Transplant ASBL, which is under her High Patronage. She regularly attends World Organ Donation Day in Luxembourg.