The Cuban María Teresa Mestre, Duchess of Luxembourg, investigated for her authoritarian attitudes

January 25, 2020

The imminent publication of a report on the functioning of the Luxembourg monarchy has set off alarms in the royal house. This report was commissioned last summer by the prime minister, Xavier Bettel, from Jeannot Waringo, former director of the General Finance Inspection, who is now retired.

After half a year of investigation, it is speculated that Waringo has conducted a complete examination of the way the Grand Dukes of Luxembourg, Henry and Maria Teresa, spend their annual allocation of 11 million euros and relate to their staff. And everything indicates that they will not come out of this well.

A newspaper has reported that the document will plunge the Royal House into a serious crisis with potential to culminate even in the abdication of Grand Duke Henry. At the epicenter of the earthquake that seems to be approaching are the authoritarian ways of Grand Duchess Maria Teresa Mestre, whom no one in her entourage dares to contradict.

The uncontrollable temperament of Mestre, born in Cuba and part of a wealthy family exiled from the Castro regime, has caused the resignation of 30 employees in the last five years, a third of the staff. Fed up with the Grand Duchess's rudeness, threats have proliferated among former workers to make public the chaotic functioning of the institution, always dependent on Mestre's whims, and where the public and private realms merge without knowing where one ends and the other begins. Until now, as happened in the case of the maid who threatened in 2015 to publish a book about her experience at Court, a check has been enough to buy silence.

Most of its content is still a mystery, but the imminent publication of a report on the functioning of the Luxembourg monarchy has placed the institution in the eye of the hurricane. The text was commissioned this summer by the prime minister, Xavier Bettel, to Jeannot Waringo, former director of the General Finance Inspection, now retired. From the office made available to him at the Palace, which he visits daily, the former high-ranking official has been spending more than half a year writing a complete examination of the way the Grand Dukes, Henry and Maria Teresa, spend their annual allocation of 11 million euros and relate to their staff. And everything indicates that they will not come out of this well.

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The Luxembourg weekly The Lëtzebuerger Land has reported that the document will plunge the Royal House into a serious crisis with potential to culminate even in the abdication of Grand Duke Henry. The author of the article, Pol Schock, points out to this newspaper that at the epicenter of the earthquake that seems to be approaching are the authoritarian ways of Grand Duchess Maria Teresa Mestre, whom no one in her entourage dares to contradict. "She makes the decisions and Henry says yes to everything," Schock explains.

But the matter goes beyond who holds real power at Court. The uncontrollable temperament of Mestre, born in Cuba and part of a wealthy family exiled from the Castro regime, has caused the resignation of 30 employees in the last five years, a third of the staff. Their departure has forced the monarchy to dig into its pockets. Fed up with the Grand Duchess's rudeness, threats have proliferated among former workers to make public the chaotic functioning of the institution, always dependent on Mestre's whims, and where the public and private realms merge without knowing where one ends and the other begins. Until now, as happened in the case of the maid who threatened in 2015 to publish a book about her experience at Court, a check has been enough to buy silence.

With Waringo, that tactic does not seem likely to work. The Luxembourg prime minister, alerted to the wide turnover of Court personnel, has decided to give the inspector time and autonomy to conduct a complete audit. The idea was for it to be completed before the end of the year, but it has required more time and now everything suggests that it will be in February when the report is ready. According to journalist Schock, the previous head of government, Jean-Claude Juncker, allowed the Grand Duchess to call him daily to influence state affairs. With Bettel she tried to replicate the same behavior, but he did not allow it. "Maria Teresa wants to be a politician, and she has not accepted that rejection, which has caused a great conflict," Schock recounts by telephone.

"Mestre does great charitable work, but uses prerogatives that do not belong to her," agrees historian Henri Wehenkel, author of several books on the family.

Prime Minister Bettel has dared to investigate the functioning of an institution that until not long ago benefited from favorable treatment by Luxembourg media, which avoided reporting on sensitive matters that could affect the monarchy. The crisis that the revelations of the Waringo report could trigger opens the door even to a rapid succession to the throne.

The Royal House has avoided commenting on the matter so far, but it is to be assumed that it will react once the work of the former finance inspector, and with it many of its secrets, is on the prime minister's desk.