"" (;

Luxembourgish Luxembourgish ( ; also ''Luxemburgish'', ''Luxembourgian'', ''Letzebu(e)rgesch''; Luxembourgish: ) is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide. As a standard form of th ...

for "The Wilhelmus") is the grand ducal anthem of

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. Lyrics for it were written in 1919 by Luxembourgish writer Nik Welter, although they are not often used in official performances. The anthem is performed whenever a member of the Grand Ducal Family enters or leaves an official ceremony, while the national anthem, "

Ons Heemecht "" (formerly ""; , ) is the national anthem of Luxembourg. Written by Michel Lentz in 1859 and set to music by Jean Antoine Zinnen in 1864, it is performed at national celebrations, while the royal anthem, or, more accurately, the grand ducal a ...

", is performed at national celebrations.

History

"De Wilhelmus" has a common origin with the Dutch national anthem, "

Het Wilhelmus "Wilhelmus van Nassouwe", usually known just as "Wilhelmus" ( nl, Het Wilhelmus, italic=no; ; English translation: "The William"), is the national anthem of both the Netherlands and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It dates back to at least 1572 ...

", which dates back to the 16th century, although they do not use the same melody and had not done so since around that time. Luxembourg was in a

personal union A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interlink ...

with the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

from 1815 until 1890, and the tune was played on a few official visits of members of the

Dutch royal family The monarchy of the Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy. As such, the role and position of the monarch are governed by the Constitution of the Netherlands. Consequently, a large portion of it is devoted to the monarch. Roughly a third of ...

to Luxembourg from 1883. "De Wilhelmus" became explicitly associated with the Grand Ducal family in Luxembourg by the end of the 1800s, around the same time "

" was being popularised. In 1915, Luxembourgish author Willy Georgen wrote the first lyrics for the anthem, to commemorate the 1815

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

. Although his lyrics were supported by Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde, World War I and the 1919 abdication of Marie-Adélaïde in favour of her sister

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

after suspicions of pro-German sentiment meant Georgen's lyrics were not officially adopted. In 1919, Luxembourgish writer Nik Welter wrote lyrics for the anthem for the marriage of Grand Duchess Charlotte and Prince Félix on 6 November that year. The anthem with Welter's words was first performed on 23 January 1920, Charlotte's 24th birthday, at the

Te Deum The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Ch ...

service at

Notre-Dame Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to the ...

by the cathedral choir, as an "anthem for the House of Luxembourg-Nassau-Bourbon". Around the same time, Luxembourg Cathedral organist Jean-Pierre Beicht harmonised the anthem for a four-piece choir. Welter subsequently dropped the first verse he had written for the anthem, which was marked too strongly by the events of the time, leaving it with the version of today. In 1939, half a year before the

German invasion of Luxembourg The German invasion of Luxembourg was part of Case Yellow (german: Fall Gelb), the German invasion of the Low Countries—Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands—and France during World War II. The battle began on 10 May 1940 and lasted just ...

, a slightly altered version of Willy Georgen's 1915 lyrics were published, but they did not become popular.

Lyrics

Although Nik Welter's lyrics from 1919 remain today, most Luxembourgers do not know them, as typically only the melody is played on official occasions.

Second lyrics

Original lyrics

Notes

References

External links

"Les usages protocolaires de la Cour"
rotocols of the courtincl. sound file and score of "De Wilhelmus" (in French) {{Authority control Royal anthems National symbols of Luxembourg Luxembourgian songs European anthems