Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg revealed he plans to abdicate the Luxembourger throne.
Henri, 69, has ruled since October 2000, and said in a new interview with the Belgian paper La Libre that he knows when he will step down in favor of his son, Prince Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg.
“There are plans. There will come a day when it will have to be done, and I intend to retire at some point. It's obvious,” Henri said.
The Grand Duke added, “All this is planned in family consultation. I find that it is very important to give young people a perspective. Transmission and trust are the two essential elements in my relationship with my son Guillaume.”
Henri and his wife, Maria Teresa, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, have five children; Guillaume, 42, is the eldest. Prince Guillaume is married to Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy and they have two children: Prince Charles, 3, and Prince François, 1. He has not commented on his father's plans as of yet.
The planned abdication is following Luxembourg royal tradition: In 1919, Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde gave up the throne in favor of her younger sister, Charlotte. Then, Grand Duchess Charlotte followed suit in 1964, passing the throne to her son Grand Duke Jean, who did the same in 2000 in favor of Henri.
Henri would join a short list of monarchs who have abdicated this century including his father in 2000, and, most recently, Queen Margrethe of Denmark, who stepped down in January in favor of her son, the now-King Frederik X of Denmark.
Unlike Grand Duke Henri, other European monarchs have no intent of abdication. For example, King Harald of Norway, who has suffered numerous health problems in recent years, has said his job is one "for life." “I stick by what I've always said, that I swore an oath to the Storting [parliament] and it is for life,” Harald said earlier this year. And, King Charles III, despite currently receiving treatment for cancer, will likely never abdicate.
Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.
