Link: wort.lu article
on 21/6/2017, 6:54:57, in reply to "National Day in Luxembourg/Grand Duke Henri's official birthday"
But why?
Since the 19th Century Luxembourg residents have celebrated their monarch's birthday. Before 1890, the year Luxembourg gained an independent monarchy, the King of the Netherlands was also automatically the Grand Duke of Luxembourg.
In 1850, the official celebration of King William - or Guillaume - III's birthday, known as “Kinneksdag” (King's Day), was transferred from February to June 17, which was in fact his wife's birthday.
The reason for the change was the proximity of the king's birthday to the day of his brother's death.
Under the reign of Grand Duchess Charlotte (1919- 1964) the celebration of the sovereign became an important patriotic public holiday.
The "Groussherzoginsgebuertsdag" (Grand Duchess's birthday) was celebrated on January 23, the Grand Duchess's actual birthday.
However in 1961 it was then decided to change the festivities to June 23, in order to take advantage of summer weather. Both the former Grand Duke Jean and the current Grand Duke Henri have kept the June 23 holiday.
Source + a bit more info:
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