Early Life and Tenure As Grand Duchess
Born in Schloss Berg, Charlotte was the second daughter of William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg and his wife Infanta Marie Anne of Portugal. Her maternal grandparents were King Miguel of Portugal and Princess Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg.
When her older sister Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, who had succeeded their father, was forced to abdicate on 14 January 1919, Charlotte became the one who had to deal with the revolutionary tendencies in the country. Unlike her sister, she chose not to meddle with its politics.
In a referendum about the new constitution on 28 September 1919, 77.8% of the Luxembourgish people voted for the continuation of a Grand Ducal monarchy with Charlotte as head of state. In this constitution, the power of the monarch was severely restricted.
During the German occupation of Luxembourg in World War II, Charlotte, exiled in London, became an important symbol of national unity.
Read more about this topic: Charlotte, Grand Duchess Of Luxembourg
Famous quotes containing the words early, life, tenure, grand and/or duchess:
“Some men have a necessity to be mean, as if they were exercising a faculty which they had to partially neglect since early childhood.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“Remember the rights of the savage, as we call him. Remember that the happiness of his humble home, remember that the sanctity of life in the hill villages of Afghanistan, among the winter snows, is as inviolable in the eye of Almighty God, as can be your own.”
—W.E. (William Ewart)
“A politician never forgets the precarious nature of elective life. We have never established a practice of tenure in public office.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)
“That grand drama in a hundred acts, which is reserved for the next two centuries of Europe—the most terrible, most questionable and perhaps also the most hopeful of all dramas.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
““If everybody minded their own business,” the Duchess said in a hoarse growl, “the world would go round a deal faster than it does.””
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)