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Matthew Patay's
Note of the Month
September 2006
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Map and flag images provided by Graphic Maps
This month's featured note
is from Luxembourg.
The denomination is 100 Francs and the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money
(SCWPM) Number is P-58a.
The note is not dated but was issued in (1986). Luxembourg is currently under the Euro monetary system.
_f-500dpi.jpg)
(front)
The banknote is red on multicolored underprint. Grand Duke Henri of
Luxembourg (16 April 1955 - Present) is at center.
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The following information
was obtained from:
Wikipedia
the online Encyclopedia
Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg
(April 16, 1955 - Present)
(For the full article, please refer to
the link above.)
Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, the head of state of Luxembourg was born at Betzdorf Castle in Luxembourg on 16 April 1955, the eldest son of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg and Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte (née Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium). His maternal grandparents were King Leopold III and Queen Astrid of Belgium.
Childhood and Education
Grand Duke Henri has four siblings: Marie Astrid, Archduchess of Austria (b. 1954), Prince Jean of Luxembourg (b. 1957), Margaretha, Princess of Liechtenstein (b. 1957) and Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg (b. 1963).
Henri was educated in Luxembourg and in France, where he obtained his baccalaureate in 1974. He then studied political sciences at University of Geneva, graduating in 1980. The Grand Duke also undertook military officer training at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst, England.
Marriage and Family
Whilst studying in Geneva, Henri met Maria Teresa Mestre y Batista, who was also a political sciences student. Despite the reported disapproval of Henri's mother (who was said to have wanted her son to marry a fellow royal), Henri and Maria Teresa were married in Luxembourg on 14 February 1981.
The couple have five children:
1. Prince Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg (b. 11 November 1981)
2. Prince Félix of Luxembourg (b. 3 June 1984)
3. Prince Louis of Luxembourg (b. 3 August 1986)
4. Princess Alexandra of Luxembourg (b. 16 February 1991)
5. Prince Sébastien of Luxembourg (b. 16 April 1992)
and one grandson: Gabriel (b. 12 March 2006) son of Prince Louis
Constitutional Position
Prince Henri became heir apparent to the Luxembourg throne on the abdication of his paternal grandmother, Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg, on 12 November 1964. From 1980 to 1998, he was a member of the Council of State.
On 4 March 1998, Prince Henri was appointed as Lieutenant Representative by his father, Grand Duke Jean, meaning that he assumed most of his father's constitutional powers. On 7 October 2000, immediately following the abdication of Grand Duke Jean, Henri acceded as Grand Duke of Luxembourg and took the constitutional oath before the Chamber of Deputies later that day.
Henri's full title is: His Royal Highness Henri, by the Grace of God, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Duke of Nassau, Prince of Bourbon of Parma, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Count of Sayn, Königstein, Katzenelnbogen and Diez, Burgrave of Hammerstein, Lord of Mahlberg, Wiesbaden, Idstein, Merenberg, Limburg and Eppstein.
However, acceeding to the throne, Grand Duke Henri relinquished the styling "by the Grace of God", and in the laws, decrees, and official documents his title is: "We HENRI, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Duke of Nassau".
Role and Interests
As the head of a constitutional monarchy, Grand Duke Henri's duties are primarily representative. However, he retains the constitutional power to appoint the Prime Minister and Government, to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies, to promulgate laws and to accredit ambassadors.
Grand Duke Henri is Commander-in-Chief of the Luxembourg Army, in which he holds the rank of General. He is also an Honorary Major in the British Parachute Regiment.
One of the Grand Duke's main functions is to represent Luxembourg in the field of foreign affairs. In May 2001, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa undertook their first foreign state visit to Spain, at the invitation of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia.
Grand Duke Henri is a member of the International Olympic Committee, a member of The Mentor Foundation (established by the World Health Organisation) and a Director of the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands.
The Grand Duke lives with his family at Berg Castle in Luxembourg. He also has a holiday home at Cabasson in the south of France.
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_b-500dpi.jpg)
(back)
The city of Luxembourg is at right center.
The following information
was obtained from:
Wikipedia the online
Encyclopedia
Luxembourg
(City)
(For the full article, please refer to
the link above.)
The city of Luxembourg (as its French name; sometimes Luxemburg as its German name; in Luxembourgish: Lëtzebuerg), commonly known as Luxembourg City, is a commune with city status, and the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is located at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse rivers in southern Luxembourg
As of 2005, the commune of Luxembourg City has a population of 76,420. The city's metropolitan population, which also includes four surrounding communes, is 103,973. Luxembourg City lies at the heart of Western Europe, situated 188 km (117 miles) from Brussels, 289 km (179 miles) from Paris, 190 km (118 miles) from Cologne.
Luxembourg City is one of the wealthiest cities in the world, having developed into a banking and administrative centre. Luxembourg is a seat of several institutions of the European Union, including the European Court of Justice, the European Court of Auditors, and the European Investment Bank.
History
In the Roman era, a fortified tower guarded the crossing of two Roman roads that met at the site of Luxembourg city. Through an exchange treaty with the abbey of Saint Maximin in Trier in 963, Sigfrid I of the Ardennes, a close relative of King Louis II of France and Emperor Otto the Great, acquired the feudal lands of Luxembourg. Sigfrid built his castle, named Lucilinburhuc ("small castle"), on the Bock, mentioned for the first time in the aforementioned exchange treaty.
In 987, the Archbishop of Trier, Egbert (977-993), blessed five altars in the Church of the Redemption (today St. Michael's Church). At a Roman road intersection near the church, a marketplace appeared around which the city developed.
The city, for reasons of its location and natural geography, has through history been a place of strategic military significance. The first fortifications were built as early as the 10th century. By the end of the 12th century, as the city expanded westward around the new St. Nicholas Church (today the cathedral of Notre Dame), new walls were built that included an area of 50,000 m².
In about 1340, under the reign of John the Blind, new fortifications were built that stood until 1867. This neutrality was disregarded by Germany on the occasions of both World War I and World War II when Luxembourg was invaded.
In 1443, the Burgundians under Philip the Good conquered Luxembourg. Luxembourg becomes part of the Burgundian, and later Spanish and Austrian empires. By the 16th century, Luxembourg was one of the strongest fortifications in Europe. Subsequently, the Burgundians, the Spanish, the French, the Spanish again, the Austrians, the French again, and the Prussians conquered Luxembourg.
In the 17th century, the first casemates were built; initially, Spain built 23 km of tunnels, starting in 1644. These were then enlarged under French rule by Marshal Vauban, and augmented again under Austrian rule in the 1730s and 1740s. By the late eighteenth century, Luxembourg's fame as an impregnable fortress was such that it became known as the Gibraltar of the North, second to only Gibraltar itself.[3]
In 1795, Luxembourg was annexed into the French Republic as part of the département of Forêts, with Luxembourg City as its préfecture. Under the 1815 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Napoleonic Wars, Luxembourg City was placed under Prussian occupation as a part of the German Confederation, although sovereignty passed to the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.
After the Luxembourg Crisis, the 1867 Treaty of London required Luxembourg to dismantle the fortifications in Luxembourg City. Their demolition took sixteen years, cost 1.5m gold francs, and required the destruction of over 24 km (15 miles) of underground defences and 40,000m² (10 acres) of casemates, batteries, barracks, etc. Furthermore, the Prussian garrison was to be withdrawn.
When, in 1890, Grand Duke William III died without any male heirs, the Grand
Duchy passed out of Dutch hands, and into an independent line under Grand Duke Adolphe. Thus, Luxembourg, which had hitherto been independent in theory only, became a truly independent country, and Luxembourg City regained some of the importance that it had lost in 1867 by becoming the capital of a fully independent state.
Despite Luxembourg's best efforts to remain neutral in the First World War, Luxembourg was occupied by Germany on 2 August 1914. On 30 August, Helmuth von Moltke moved his headquarters to Luxembourg City, closer to his armies in France in preparation for a swift victory. However, the victory never came, and Luxembourg would play host to the German high command for another four years. At the end of the occupation, Luxembourg City was the scene of an attempted communist revolution; on 9 November 1918, communists declared a socialist republic, but it lasted only a few hours.
In 1921, the city limits were greatly expanded. The communes of Eich, Hamm, Hollerich, and Rollingergrund were annexed into Luxembourg City, making the city the largest commune in the country.
In 1940, German occupied Luxembourg again. The Nazis were not prepared to allow Luxembourgers self-government, and gradually integrated Luxembourg into the Third Reich until it annexed the Grand Duchy, on 30 August 1942. Luxembourg City was liberated on 10 September 1944.
After the war, Luxembourg ended its neutrality, and became a founding member of several inter-governmental and supra-governmental institutions. In 1952, the city became the headquarters of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community. In 1967, the High Authority was merged with the commissions of the other European institutions; although Luxembourg City would no longer be the seat of the ECSC, it would play host to some part-sessions of the European Parliament until 1981.
Luxembourg remains the seat of the European Parliament's secretariat, as well as the European Court of Justice, the European Court of Auditors, and the European Investment Bank.
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For more information about Luxembourg visit:
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