Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg does not seem to be too friendly to her staff. Several employees are said to have already run away. The Prime Minister of Luxembourg would even have called the Grand Duchess to account.
Maria Teresa (66), wife of Grand Duke Henri, is Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. That role is similar to that of queen. But she would not be a worthy head of state. Her staff have said they have not felt safe with her for years. Recently, the situation escalated again.
According to the newspaper Luxembourg country Maria Teresa got angry during a photo shoot. She is said to have scoffed at her staff: according to the Grand Duchess, they did not try hard enough to keep everything running smoothly. She therefore demanded that other people come. Maria Teresa is said to have spoken of a “poor organization”.
Several staff members then resigned, including Maria Teresa’s assistant. They call it emotional abuse that was going on before this incident. That was reason enough for Prime Minister Xavier Bettel to take action.
He spoke to those involved, who said that there was indeed “a lively exchange of words and an unacceptable incident”. Everyone agreed that the Grand Duchess’s behavior was not acceptable.
Maria Teresa’s behavior makes work ‘impossible’
The angry staff members speak of a high workload, combined with the negative attitude of the Grand Duchess. “This makes the work unbearable, sometimes even impossible. Her mood changes every day. One day she is charming, the next day respect is hard to find,” they say (anonymously) to Luxembourg country.
A former senior official at the Ministry of Finance also recognizes this behavior of Maria Teresa. He himself was not a victim of this, but he noticed that others suffered from it. “I felt they were afraid of being reprimanded or losing their job.”
It is not the first time such stories have come out. In 2015, a cleaning lady went from court to court. She was intimidated by Maria Teresa, she said. She therefore felt that her dismissal was unjustified. The Grand Duchess denied, the police found no evidence and there was no trial.
Is abdication the best option?
In 2020, alarm bells also went off because of Maria Teresa’s behavior. The stories are very similar to those of today: she demanded far too much from her staff. In response to this, Prime Minister Bettel had a report drawn up. The conclusion was that there was indeed a culture of fear at court. And Maria Teresa would have too much to say about the staff.
So history seems to be repeating itself. According to Luxembourg country Prime Minister Bettel has already discussed the situation with the Grand Ducal couple. That turned out to think very differently about how the court should be managed than the prime minister. Bettel believes that a solution must be found as soon as possible.
The question is whether Maria Teresa can still restore her image. It is therefore called that Grand Duke Henri and his wife should abdicate the throne and let their more popular son Guillaume (41) ascend it. They don’t seem to be planning that yet, according to an interview. “We want our son to enjoy the free life.”