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 Olivier Minaire

A communiqué from the court reveals that “the internal regulations” of the House of Nassau have been changed to “introduce equality between men and women in the matter of succession to the throne.” The new regulation will apply for the first time to the descendants of Grand Duke Henri. In reality, of course, that changes little. The Grand Duke’s only daughter, Princess Alexandra, is his fourth child and unlikely ever to be called upon to be head of state.

The change does, however, bring Luxembourg in line with other European constitutional monarchies such as Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Norway. However, as L’Essentiel took delight in pointing out, the UK has not changed its law of succession and that, in the words of the French-language free paper, makes “The Grand Duke more modern than Elizabeth II”. Indeed, in the UK MP Keith Vaz did introduce a bill to bring equality in to succession law in January this year but it failed because any alteration to the succession would require a change in the constitution.

Ironically, RTL’s website reports that the chamber of deputies is actually working on a change to the constitution that would see the succession to the throne determined not by the royal household’s family pact but by the constitution itself. This change would render the Grand Duke’s announcement redundant, but would also bring in equality by stating that the first child of the ruling monarch would succeed to the throne regardless of whether that child was male or female. The current Crown Prince Guillaume is first in line to succeed his father.