Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg - Birthday Reply (2020)

A lovely reply arrived this week from Luxembourg. I had written to Grand Duke Henri in April for his 65th birthday. 

On the front of the envelope are two stamps of Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume that were released to mark his 30th birthday in 2011.

The postmark is a special postmark to celebrate the birth of Prince Charles of Luxembourg. It features the Grand-Ducal Crown in one corner and "Vive le Prince" (Long Live the Prince) in the opposite corner. 

The back of the envelope features the Grand-Ducal Crown.

Inside are two cards. The first card is the usual sort of flat card with a typed message. 

The card says: 

Luxembourg April 2020

All my thanks for your kind wishes on the occasion of my birthday. 

Henri

The date on the card corresponds with Henri's birthday, and not the date the card was actually sent. 

The other card is a photo of Grand Duke Henri, that was taken by Lola Velasco. I am not 100% sure when this photo was taken, but it is over a decade old. & possibly taken just after Henri's accession. Besides throwback photos for anniversaries or condolences, I think this is the oldest photo I've gotten from the Royals. 

This is only the 2nd time I have gotten a photo from the Luxembourg Royals. The first time was for Grand Duke Henri's birthday last year. 

We can tell from the back of the card, that is was created by the German Souvenir company, Creation Gross (Gross means big in German).  The company creates souvenirs that they then sell to gift shops, tourist attractions, etc. It is interesting that the Luxembourg Palace bought postcards from a 3rd party, instead of just creating photo cards themselves, or contacting a printer directly. 

I have received a postcard before from the Liechtenstein Royals, but that is something they created themselves. 

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