Documents Grand-Ducal: La QUASI absence the bedroom interroge

“If it is a film for the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess, and if the Grand Duchess does not want me, then I prefer not to be there. Until I learned that it was the government that paid to produce it. ” This is what Xavier Bettel, Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs said in an interview with Toweencies. The documentary “History of a reign: 25 years at the service of Luxembourg” (35 minutes), which was screened in the Philharmonie on the day of the national holiday, traces the quarter of a century under the reign of the Grand Duke Henri and the Grande-Duchess Maria Teresa.

If Jean-Claude Juncker (Prime Minister from 1995 to 2013) and Luc Frieden (current Prime Minister) are both interviewed, Xavier Bettel (Prime Minister from 2013 to 2023) does not pronounce a single word. It only appears in several short archive plans. Who really decided on the content and the political figures who appear there? Contacted, the Ministry of State indicates to Essential That Luc Frieden hoped that the three Prime Ministers who were in office during this 25 -year period appear in the film. But that he did not claim “no influence” as to the content of the film.

For her part, Valentine Patry, the French journalist who made the documentary, joined by Essentialhad not yet answered our questions. A source specifies that the Grand Duchess Maria Teresa “chose its director”, which has already been in contact with the Maison du Grand Duke during previous reports. This independent journalist, who collaborates with RTL,, in particular, has been able to have easy access to the archives, according to our information.

It is not a secret for anyone that relations between Xavier Bettel and the Grand Duchess are not very warm. As a reminder, the ex-Prime Minister is at the origin of the Waringo report in 2020. The 44-page document highlighted the gaps in the personnel policy within the Grand-Ducal court. Jeannot Waringo attributed, at least in part, this responsibility to the Grand Duchess Maria Teresa. She had made the most important decisions in this regard without having the authority, according to the report.

To prevent this from happening again, the former director of the General Inspectorate of Finance proposed the creation of a new institution, namely, the Maison du Grand Duke, endowed with its own legal form. This would also make it possible to establish a clear distinction between official employees, funded by the state budget, and private employees, according to the argument put forward. The proposal was approved and the Grand Duke’s house was finally created in October 2020.