The birthday Grand Duke

It might have been all about Kate yesterday as she celebrated her 34th birthday but the night belonged to Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg who turned 95 on January 5th but who, on Saturday night, had quite a few royals round to celebrate.

Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg marked his 95th birthday with a party on January 9th 2016

(photo credit: By Schnékert (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)

The Grand Duke made a rare public appearance at a concert held to celebrate his big birthday. And with him on this special occasion were his family and quite a few other familiar faces.

Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg celebrates his 95th birthday with family and royal guests @CourGrandDucale pic.twitter.com/UCWO6FzaEQ

— Patrick van Katwijk (@Patrickvkatwijk) January 9, 2016

Among the guests were Queen Sofia of Spain and Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands. Jean's nephew by marriage, King Philippe of the Belgians, also attended with his wife, Queen Mathilde. In fact the family photo, featuring Constantine and Anne-Marie of Greece in the front row, was a bit of a who's who of European royalty for the 21st century. And coming at the start of 2016, it was a handy memento of how things looked as the year got going as well as a special way of celebrating a special birthday for the man who ruled Luxembourg for 36 years until his abdication in favour of his son, Henri, in 2000.