Their Royal Highnesses Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie of Luxembourg will travel to Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA next week to watch the launch of the first satellite “GovSat 1” at the Cape Canaveral launch base.
“GovSat 1” will launch from the “Falcon 9” rocket belonging to SpaceX on Tuesday, 30 January. SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk in 2002. “GovSat 1″ will operate the satellite. A public-private joint venture between Luxembourg and SES (world’s leading satellite operator), “GovSat” was created in 2015. SES operates in Betzdorf, Luxembourg, which is the birth location of Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume’s father, Grand Duke Henri (b. 1955).
In a press release from the Grand Ducal Court, they cited the SIP explaining that the satellite’s mission “is to offer satellite communication capabilities secure and reliable for military and civilian purposes to meet growing demand institutional and defence.” The aim is for “GovSat 1” frequencies, when available, to be able to be utilised by partner countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or the European Union.
Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie of Luxembourg in Norway in 2017 for celebrations of King Harald and Queen Sonja’s 80th birthdays. Photo: Oskar Aanmoen.
36-year-old Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and 33-year-old Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie are leading the delegation. The couple will be joined by Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and Deputy Prime Minister Étienne Schneider. They will be in the United States from 29 through the 31 January.
In November of last year, Their Royal Highnesses were in Italy on a finance mission and regularly travel around the globe on related tasks on behalf of Luxembourg and the Grand Ducal Family.
Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume married Belgian born Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy in a civil ceremony on 19 October 2012 with the religious ceremony the following day at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg.
