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34-522: On 23 February 1945 Robert Als and the aide-de-camp to the Grand-Duchess , Guillaume Konsbruck were added, as well as on 21 April 1945 Nicolas Margue , who was returning from resettlement. One problem was that out of 55 pre-war Deputies, only 25 remained. The rest had been killed, resettled, or were suspected of collaboration with the Nazis. The government only wanted to organise new elections to

68-704: A focus for the resistance movements in Luxembourg. Charlotte's younger sister Antonia and brother-in-law Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria , were exiled from Germany in 1939. In 1944, living now in Hungary , Crown Princess Antonia was captured when the Germans invaded Hungary and found herself deported to the concentration camp at Dachau , being later transferred to Flossenbürg where she survived torture but only with her health badly impaired. Meanwhile, from 1942 Grand Duchess Charlotte's eldest son, Jean, served as

102-701: A mission of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force , composed of American, British, Canadian and Luxembourgish officers. After the Liberation, this commission was de facto the supreme military and civil authority in Luxembourg. On the other hand, the Resistance movements, who sought moral legitimacy, contested the government's powers. To remedy the authorities' lack of power, the Unio’n 's militia maintained order and arrested collaborators, which gave rise to abuses. The Resistance movements which were gathered in

136-560: A new constitution that year. In a referendum on 28 September 1919, 77.8% of the Luxembourgish people voted for the continuation of the monarchy with Grand Duchess Charlotte as head of state. However, in the new constitution, the powers of the monarch were severely restricted, thus codifying actual practices dating from the end of the personal union with the Netherlands in 1890. By 1935, Charlotte had sold her German properties,

170-522: A special commission, could order internment. By July 1945, the number of political prisoners had reached over 5,000. These were put to work in reconstruction or demining. On 30 November 1944, the government started a massive investigation into the attitude and actions of the civil servants who remained in place during the occupation. This was later extended to other professional categories. The administrative purge led to 20,000 cases being opened, of which 80% were closed without any action. On 16 December 1944,

204-816: A volunteer in the British Army's Irish Guards , after the war becoming its Honorary Colonel-in-chief (1984-2000). In the years after the war, Charlotte showed a lot of public activity which contributed to raising Luxembourg's profile on the international stage, by hosting visits from foreign heads of state and other dignitaries, such as Eleanor Roosevelt (1950), Queen Juliana of the Netherlands (1951), René Coty (1957), King Baudouin of Belgium (1959), King Bhumibol of Thailand (1961), and King Olav V of Norway (1964). Likewise, she visited Pope Pius XII (1950), Charles de Gaulle (1961), and John F. Kennedy (1963). In 1951 Charlotte and her prime minister Pierre Dupong admitted by decree three Swedish relatives into

238-633: The BBC . Later she travelled to the United States and to Canada . Her children continued their schooling in Montreal while she had several meetings with President Roosevelt who encouraged her itinerant campaigning across the country in support of his own opposition to isolationism which was a powerful political current until the Pearl Harbor attacks . In the meantime Luxembourg, along with

272-475: The Chamber of Deputies when the war was over and people had returned from deportation. It therefore took decisions based on the laws of 1938 and 1939, which gave it increased powers in times of crisis. This provoked heavy criticism, so the government established a Consultative Assembly , which apart from the remaining Deputies also included members of the resistance. 21 October 1945 saw the first elections since

306-700: The Allied side, the Luxembourgish government had broken with its traditional security policy based on neutrality. After Liberation, it followed through with a reorientation of its foreign policy. On 26 June 1945, the Grand Duchy signed the United Nations Charter in San Francisco, becoming a founding member of the new organisation. This was a highly symbolic act, as it reflected the government's wish to participate in international politics. It

340-635: The Grand Duchess, became minister for agriculture. After his return from deportation, on 21 April 1945, Nicolas Margue rejoined the government, taking over the departments of agriculture and repatriation. In the immediate aftermath of the war, the government worked without a parliament. When the Chamber of Deputies had its first session after the war on 6 December 1944, only 25 Deputies out of 55 were present. The rest were either still imprisoned in Germany, deceased, or suspected collaborators. However,

374-460: The Unio’n saw themselves as existing outside and above the traditional parties. In an appeal to the Grand Duchess, they demanded a new government. They accused the "London men" of being sluggish and unenthusiastic in their efforts to repatriate deported countrymen, and to punish collaborators. In response, Pierre Dupong decided to enlarge his government by including men who had lived in the country during

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408-572: The adjacent French Moselle department, found itself integrated into an expanded Germany under the name Heim ins Reich , which left Luxembourgers required to speak German and liable for conscription into the German army. In 1943 Grand Duchess Charlotte and the Luxembourg government established themselves in London : her broadcasts became a more regular feature of the BBC schedules, establishing her as

442-741: The country was surprised by the Ardennes Offensive . The Germans breached the American front, which had stabilised along the Our and the Sûre , and re-occupied the northern half of the country. It was not until 22 February that the last German soldier had left the Grand Duchy's territory. The battle of the Ardennes devastated the Oesling and the region around Echternach , displaced large numbers of

476-579: The former residential palaces of the Dukes of Nassau , Biebrich Palace and Schloss Weilburg , to the State of Prussia. During World War II the grand ducal family left Luxembourg shortly before the arrival of Nazi troops . Luxembourg's neutrality was violated on 9 May 1940, while the Grand Duchess and her family were in residence at Colmar-Berg . That day she called an extraordinary meeting of her leading ministers, and they all decided to place themselves under

510-517: The government decided to create a Consultative Assembly . This sat for 18 sessions between 20 March and 16 August 1945. Composed of former Deputies and representatives of the Resistance, the Assembly became the principal tribune for opposition to the government. On 31 May, Dupong defused the conflict by announcing legislative elections for 21 October 1945. By choosing exile and actively taking

544-516: The government mitigated the negative consequences of the post-war period. The decree of 30 December 1944 introduced a minimum wage. The creation of a National Labour Conference, which included representatives of business-owners, workers and the government, made it possible to resolve social conflicts by consensus. This institution replaced the National Labour Council, created in 1936. Unemployment remained under control. The workers of

578-420: The government wanted to await the end of the war and the return of the deported and political prisoners before calling elections. In the meantime, it relied on the laws of 28 September 1938 and 29 August 1939 to legislate. These expanded the government's powers to create new laws if the legislature was unable to carry out its functions. To give itself greater legitimacy, and to provide a forum for public discontent,

612-430: The introduction of conscription encountered wide support among the population. In the first days of the Liberation, the Unio’n's militia, which had given itself police powers, proceeded to arrest hundreds of collaborators or suspected collaborators. To put these imprisonments on a legal footing and reduce arbitrary arrests, the government stipulated by decree of 12 October 1944 that only the minister for justice, advised by

646-535: The liberation of the country's territory, the Allies had recognised the Luxembourgish government in London as the sole legal representative of the Grand Duchy. However, after their return from exile, the four ministers found their authority greatly limited, even contested. On the one hand, politicians had to bow to the military interests of the Allies as long as the war against Nazi Germany was still ongoing. The Allies sent

680-599: The liberation, which provided the National Union Government on 14 November. On 23 September 1944, only two weeks after the liberation of the capital by the US Army , the Luxembourgish government returned from exile. It was confronted with grave material and moral difficulties. The immediate priorities were the population's food supply, the provision of coke for heavy industry, purges, the repatriation of deported Luxembourgers and reconstruction. Before

714-585: The measures taken by the occupiers before 10 September 1944 with regards to taxes, fees and charges would continue to be applicable. The German tax system, initially conceived to sustain the Nazi war effort, could also be used to finance reconstruction and the compensation of war damages. In addition, a special wealth tax of 5% was introduced. The difficulties of supply obliged the government to introduce rationing measures and to restrict consumption. Despite this austerity policy, strikes were rare. Through social reforms,

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748-407: The mining and steel industries, in which production had ceased due to lack of fuel, were employed in reconstruction work. The government tried to avoid being too strict in monetary policy while still minimising inflation. The decree of 14 October 1944 regulated the exchange of Reichsmarks and Luxembourgish francs . The Reichsmark, which had been introduced by the German occupiers at the rate of 1:10,

782-599: The monarchy with Charlotte as grand duchess. She married Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma on 6 November 1919. They had six children. Following the 1940 German invasion of Luxembourg during World War II , Charlotte went into exile: first in France, then Portugal, Great Britain, and North America. While in Britain, she made broadcasts to the people of Luxembourg. She returned to Luxembourg in April 1945. She abdicated in 1964, and

816-563: The nobility of Luxembourg who were not allowed to use their birth titles in Sweden. They were then named as Sigvard Prince Bernadotte , Carl Johan Prince Bernadotte and Lennart Prince Bernadotte and also, with their legitimate descendants, were given the hereditary titles of Counts and Countesses of Wisborg there. On 12 November 1964, she abdicated in favour of her son Jean, who then reigned until his abdication in 2000. Charlotte died at Schloss Fischbach on 9 July 1985, from cancer . She

850-410: The occupation. On 23 November 1944, Pierre Frieden joined the government to replace the minister for education, Nicolas Margue , who was still abroad after having been deported in the war. On 23 February 1945, the public prosecutor Robert Als was appointed minister for the interior and took over from Victor Bodson the difficult portfolio of purges. Guillaume Konsbruck, an officer and aide de camp to

884-639: The population and worsened the food supply situation. Confronted with a state of emergency, the government created several institutions to allow it to intervene in the economy: the Office of Prices, the Supply Commissariat, the General Commissariat for Reconstruction, the Office for War Damages. Yet it also kept several of the measures introduced by the occupier concerning taxation and supply. The decree of 26 October 1944 stipulated that

918-514: The protection of France, described by the Grand Duchess as a difficult but necessary decision. Initially the family took up residence at the Château de Montastruc in south-western France, but the rapid advance of the German forces into France followed by French capitulation the next month caused the French government to refuse any guarantee of security to the exiled Luxembourg government. Permission

952-508: Was Grand Duchess of Luxembourg from 14 January 1919 until her abdication on 12 November 1964. Her reign is the longest of any Luxembourgish monarch since 1815 when the country was elevated to a Grand Duchy. She acceded to the throne on 14 January 1919 following the abdication of her sister, Marie-Adélaïde , due to political pressure over Marie-Adélaïde's role during the German occupation of Luxembourg during World War I . A referendum retained

986-455: Was also this desire to assume international responsibilities which made the government introduce obligatory military service by decree of 30 November 1944. The gradual creation of an army with the help of the British would allow Luxembourg to participate in the occupation of Germany , and to be a party to the military agreements of the post-war period. In 1944, in the euphoria of the Liberation,

1020-704: Was interred in the Ducal Crypt of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in the city of Luxembourg . A statue of the Grand Duchess is in Place Clarefontaine in the city of Luxembourg. On 6 November 1919 in Luxembourg , she married Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma , a first cousin on her mother's side. (Both Charlotte and Felix were grandchildren of King Miguel of Portugal , through his daughters Maria Anna and Maria Antonia, respectively). With

1054-619: Was now worth 5 francs, but the first batch of 100 Reichsmarks were converted at 10 francs. Belgium provided Luxembourg with the required notes for the operation. While the government ably dealt with the various socio-economic problems of the post-war period, it seemed unable to overcome one major worry: that of the repatriation of 30,000 Luxembourgers who had been deported in the war. The slow pace of their return caused bitter criticism. From 23 February 1945 also: Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg Charlotte (Charlotte Adelgonde Elisabeth Marie Wilhelmine; 23 January 1896 – 9 July 1985)

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1088-532: Was received to cross Spain provided they did not stop en route , and the Grand Duchess with her ministers moved on to Portugal . The Germans proposed to restore the Grand Duchess to her functions, but Charlotte refused, mindful of her sister's experiences of remaining in Luxembourg under German occupation during the First World War . By 29 August 1940 Grand Duchess Charlotte was in London where she began to make supportive broadcasts to her homeland using

1122-647: Was succeeded by her son Jean . Charlotte died from cancer on 9 July 1985. She was the last agnatic member of the House of Nassau . She was the last personal recipient of the Golden Rose and since her death there are no living personal recipients of that honour, which in modern times has been awarded only to churches and shrines. She is to date the most recent Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. Born in Berg Castle , Charlotte of Nassau-Weilburg , Princess of Luxembourg,

1156-459: Was the second daughter of Grand Duke William IV and his wife, Marie Anne of Portugal . Her older sister, Marie-Adélaide , had succeeded their father. However, Marie-Adélaïde's actions had become controversial, and she was seen as sympathetic to the German occupation of Luxembourg during World War I . There were calls in parliament for her abdication , and she was forced to abdicate in favour of Charlotte on 14 January 1919. Luxembourg adopted

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