There was to be no public holiday to mark the new Grand Duke's accession on Friday, so attendees were forced to take annual leave from work or apply for special dispensation from schools if they wanted to attend the event in the capital.
Pupils in Luxembourg's schools were offered the opportunity to request a special absence in order to attend the official ceremony in Luxembourg City. However, this information was not widely received amongst parents and students alike.
On Thursday, the day before the accession, parents outside a Luxembourg City school expressed surprise when asked if they had requested the special absence for their child. None of the parents asked knew it was even a possibility. Even the parents who declined to appear on camera for RTL said they knew nothing about it.
RTL investigated further. School staff onsite said that internal communications had been too late, and that it was a shame as more children would likely have requested the absence if they had known about it. As a result, it was difficult to gauge how much interest in the coronation there was amongst pupils.
Other schools shared mixed responses to the royal event. Some primary schools sent whole classes to the capital in order to follow the ceremony as a group, while others handed out absence forms in the classroom so parents could decide if their child make use of the special dispensation or not.
Several secondary schools said they let pupils take the initiative to collect the forms themselves from the school secretary, while others chose to hand the forms out.
The Ministry of Education argued this procedure was not something new for schools, as a similar dispensation was made available for other events, such as Pope Francis' visit to Luxembourg last year. Schools were informed of the dispensation on 23 September, 10 days prior to the royal event. "This information was emailed to regional directors and presidents of primary school committees, as well as to secondary school headteachers, with the guidance to share it among school staff," wrote the Ministry.
Schools are meant to manage the dispensation process, the Ministry continued. "The Ministry cannot comment on the ways in which a school might choose to inform parents." As a result, the education ministry could not supply data on the level of interest in the Grand Duke's accession among schoolchildren.
When Grand Duke Guillaume's father ascended to the throne 25 years ago, on 7 October 2000, the event occurred on a Saturday, so there was no question of school absence.
