Luxembourg

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a landlocked country in western Europe. A separate state from 963, it eventually became one of the Seventeen Provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands and later part of the Spanish Netherlands. The present-day state of Luxembourg first emerged at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. The Grand-Duchy, with its powerful fortress, became an independent state under the personal possession of William I of the Netherlands with a Prussian garrison to guard the city against another invasion from France. In 1839, following the turmoil of the Belgian Revolution, the purely French-speaking part of Luxembourg was ceded to Belgium and the Luxembourgish-speaking part became what is the present state of Luxembourg.

At the Treaty of London in 1867 Luxembourg was recognized as an independent state in a personal union with the Netherlands. In 1890 this union was dissolved since at his death King and Grand Duke William III did not have any sons, only a daughter. Another branch of the Nassau family took over the reign of Luxembourg. The city of Luxembourg, which is the country's capital and largest city, is the seat of several institutions and agencies of the EU.

For the envelope I bought the definitive stamp with the portrait of Grand Duke Henri with a value for letters up to 50 gr to Europe from the Luxembourg postal administration at the Briefmarken-Messe in Essen in May 2017 and left the envelope with them. It was postmarked with a normal datestamp, that looks exactly like those of Germany.

Website of the philatelic service of Post Luxembourg: postphilately.lu/home.

Date sent: 11 May 2017

Date postmark: 15 May 2017

Date received: 18 May 2017

Number of days: 7

Envelope in collection: 71