Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg

Jean was the Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1964 until he abdicated in 2000, a reign of thirty-six years. Born in 1921 at Berg Castle as the eldest son of Grand Duchess Charlotte and Prince Felix, he was heir apparent from birth and was styled Hereditary Grand Duke in 1939. When Germany invaded in May 1940 the grand ducal family fled, and Jean spent the war years abroad, studying law and political science at the Université Laval in Quebec before volunteering for the British Irish Guards in 1942. He was commissioned in 1943, landed in Normandy in June 1944 and served in the liberation of Luxembourg. He succeeded his mother when she abdicated in November 1964, and in October 2000 he handed the throne to his son Henri. He was the first Grand Duke of Luxembourg of French agnatic descent.