Exactly a year ago, Liechtenstein received the devastating news that Princess Marie, wife of sovereign Prince Hans Adam, had suffered a stroke and was admitted to a Swiss hospital, where she would pass away three days later.
Now her adoptive country will commemorate the first anniversary of her death with a church service in Vaduz Cathedral and the possibility for the public to view her tomb.
The function will take place in St Florin Cathedral on Sunday, 21st August, at 9:30 am, and will presumably see the presence of all members of her family, including her husband and her five children.
The service is likely to be broadcast live on local channels, as the funeral was, because seats within the Cathedral are limited and therefore reserved for family members and close friends.
The function will be followed by the exceptional opening of the princely tomb to the public for two hours, until 12:30 pm, according to the press release published by the princely household on Tuesday.
The princely tomb is located next to Vaduz Cathedral and is the burial site for all members of the Princely Family. It is normally opened only on the 1st of November, when the Catholic Church celebrates All Saints and, by proxy, all dead people (although the day of the dead is the 2nd of November). In Catholic countries, November 1st is generally a bank holiday.
St Florin Cathedral, or Vaduz Cathedral, is a neo-Gothic church. Consecrated in 1873 as a parish, it was elevated to the rank of Cathedral in 1997, when Pope John Paul II created Vaduz as an independent diocese. Before the solemn ceremony on the 12th of December 1997, Liechtenstein was a Deanery and part of the Swiss Diocese of Chur.
The cathedral has hosted milestone events in the life of the Princely family, including the funerals of Prince Franz Ferdinand II and Princess Marie and the most important weddings in the recent history of the Principality: Prince Hans Adam and Princess Marie, Hereditary Prince Alois and Hereditary Princess Sophie, and Princess Tatjana and Baron Philipp von Lattorff.
