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Welcome to Back to Luxembourg, a podcast by American Luxembourgers about the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and its people from the Moselle to the Mississippi. I'm Matthew Foster.

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And I'm Rebecca Seymours. It's Tuesday, November 11, 2025. And on this episode, we're talking about the history and symbolism of Luxembourg's flags.

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Then I'll talk about our favorite English language books about Luxembourg's history and culture. So come along as we go spec up Light's a bush. Back to Luxembourg. When we were in Luxembourg just a few weeks ago, the place was filled with flags. Luxembourgers do seem to really like flying their flag. Yes. But like this was next level. Yes. Like it was just kind of everywhere.

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It was everywhere.

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Yep. Ultimately three different flags. Right. So there is the red, white, and blue flag. Yep. Then there is the red, white, and blue flag that had that has Guillaume's monogram. Yeah. Monogram. And then there is the red lion flag. So that's the white and blue striped one with the two-tailed red lion with a crown facing left. Left. Yep. And so those are so those are the flags that were just kind of everywhere. Yep. One thing that I have kind of noticed is that people don't really know why Luxembourg has basically two flags.

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And I think not only don't know why, but don't realize it. Like, and I would venture to guess, and I guess I don't know, because like obviously the tri-color flag, I think you see more as like the official flag.

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Yes.

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Right. But people who travel to Luxembourg or us or who get into whatever tend to, I think, like the lion flag.

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Yes.

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Which makes sense to me. You know, it's kind of it's interesting, it's different. It's, you know what I mean? Yeah. But then they're like, wait, that's the official one, or is this the official one? And to be like, they're both so they're yeah, they're both official.

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So because I do like vexillology, which is the study of flags. And so the the big difference is that nerd alert. Yeah. Bad nerd alert. Like, yeah. 13 out of 10. So the red, white, and blue flag, the tricolor flag is the is is the state flag, meaning that it is representative of Luxembourg as a political entity. Right. And that the the red lion flag is officially defined as the civil ensign. Right. And there is a whole history about like how civil ensigns were differentiated. Basically, what it is is that civil ensigns were back in the day when flags were put on ships, that civil ensigns were used by civilian-owned ships. So it was a way of identifying the country of origin, but also signaling this is not naval vessel, this is not an official, this is not a boat on official business. Right. And so most countries had for a very long time, the seafaring countries, anyway, had for a very long time two different flags. So they would have the state flag and then they would have the civil flag. As technology developed over the 20th century, most countries stopped using the system because there are much more reliable ways of identifying who owns what now, you know. And so, but Luxembourg has sort of like kept this. The actual symbol of the red lion and the the striped background has his historical roots in the Noble House of Luxembourg, which is a noble house that was the first noble house of Luxembourg. It is now extinct. That's not who's in charge anymore, but that was their coat of arms. And nobody really knows what the intent of the symbolism was with all of that. But this red lion, two tails, facing left, crown, standing on its hind legs, stripey background, that has been around for almost a thousand years. Wow.

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I'm very fascinated by you saying it's like naval exploring, given that it's a lionlocked country.

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Yeah. So now the thing is that the flag of the Netherlands and the flag of Luxembourg are basically identical. Right. Both are red, white, and blue, horizontal stripes, equal width. Luxembourg's colors, the red and the blue, are lighter in shade. So it's kind of sky blue instead of dark blue, like the Netherlands. It is true that Luxembourg does not have ready access to the sea. Yeah. But it does have access to the Moselle River and then to the Rhine. And so apparently, and uh I hope I'm getting this story right. But basically, what it was is that they were like flying the Luxembourg flag. Okay. But you couldn't readily identify that. Oh, sure. So it was kind of confused with the Dutch flag.

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Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

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And so you're like, well, let's let's use the let's use the lion. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. It was all tied to like seafaring. Yeah. And that the first country that had like what we would consider a modern flag was the Netherlands. Yep. And that the colors were orange, white, and blue. Okay. And that they ditched orange, even though that's still their national color, and it, but it's not on their flag, because orange as a dye was not very light fast in the 1400s or whatever it is. So they were like, well, it'll just change it to red. But they did keep orange because it's a house of orange, it's the royal family. And so they did that. But like the Dutch tri-color, because it is so simple to sew and it's so easy to manufacture, uh, was massively influential, which is why almost all European countries have tricolors of sorts, some sort or or two colors. And so I think that that's part of it too, where it's just like, well, it's just much easier to manufacture this stripey flag as opposed to.

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Yep. The red lion flag is very reminiscent of like a coat of arms, right?

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Yeah.

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And historically, I mean, there's a connection with that with flags, right? Because that way back in the day, that was what you did is you were the like you carried the coat of arms for whatever you were defending, whatever family or whatever household you were a vassal for. You know what I mean? Like, and so I can see a little bit that it being that that partly being why it's persisted, but also why it won't become the official flag as like yeah, you know, change like from history, something more modern. But but I don't I don't know if there's any truth in that.

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No, I mean, I think that there is, uh, just because like with the Red Lion, because that motif is actually used in like several neighboring places, like Limburg and Hesse in in Germany and stuff like that. And then the Red Lion, like that, that flag is also used by the province of Luxembourg, yep, in in Belgium. And yeah, and I think that that's that's probably true. It's too reminiscent of the monarchy, it's too closely tied to like uh the the the monarchy that it doesn't really represent Luxembourg as a constitutional monarchy, right? But one thing that I do find also extremely interesting about the the Grand Ducal family is that you know that they're not house of Luxembourg, right? They're house of Nassau. Right. And but over the generations, and I haven't seen any of Guillaume's like coat of arms or anything like that, but they've been adding more and more Luxembourgish elements to like their family's crest and things like that over the generations. Yeah. Because like every new Grand Duke can change it a little bit if he wishes or if she wishes, it's a Grand Duchess, and that they've been adding more and more Luxembourgish elements to it. So I will be really curious, like and I haven't seen it yet, but I'll be really, really curious to see if Guillaume has made any of those updates or if he will make any of those updates. Yeah. Because like they still want to like make sure that they're, you know, honoring their own families about like you know, the House of Nassau and Bourbon Parma, et cetera, et cetera. But but there's also a recognition, of course, in the Grand Ducal family that they're the heads of state of Luxembourg.

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Yeah. And I would venture to guess new the new Duke Guillaume, that's probably more of a focus for him than historically has been. Like it's probably been, you know, I think what you're saying makes sense little by little adding it in. But given kind of what his focus was and what you know what I mean, it was very focused on like Luxembourg and like kind of being more connected with the people. I could see him add more like country specific things rather than kind of royal family stuff.

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Yeah, you know. Because that red lion, I mean, everyone is attached to it. Yep. I mean, that's that is the symbol of Luxembourg, I think, if you were to ask most people. There have been movements throughout Luxembourg's history to ditch the tricolor and adopt the the red lion flag as the official flag, as the sole official flag. The idea, I think, has broad support publicly, but it's never gotten much of anywhere in the chamber of deputies, because it would be a pain.

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Right, right. Because I mean, if you look around most official buildings, everything has the tricolor flag, right?

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If if only one flag is being flown, it's going to be the tri-color. Yeah. Uh on an official building anyway, or you know, outside the United Nations or something. Right. But I think that most Luxembourgers, like I think that if they were to fly a flag, right, they would fly the red line. I agree. But I also really like the idea that there's a flag that represents Luxembourg as a political entity, right? And then one that represents the people. Right. And that they're not the same flag.

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When I asked my Luxembourgish family, I said, I think I want to get a tattoo of Luxembourg. What should I get? They all were like, root de louf. Yeah. You know, and I was like, oh, okay. Yeah.

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Yeah. That and it's it's kind of it's a little, it's a little challenging to say.

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Like I don't say it well. Yeah. Yeah.

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Rod Leif.

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That's it.

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Honestly, we will get this someday. We will. We promise. We're we're we're working on it.

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We're working, I'm trying.

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As a non-fiction reader and researcher, I've tried to dive into the history of Luxembourg. But let me tell you, finding a good book about Luxembourg's history in English is an absolute quest. You'd think that it would be easy. It's a modern, wealthy European country. But the reality is that the quality availability and expense of these books have led me down some strange paths. It's not a problem unique to Luxembourg. I mean, if you try to find a history of Belgium, you're going to run into the same problems, but this is my problem, and I want to share my findings with you. I've noticed a few consistent issues across a lot of the books that I've managed to get my hands on. First is that a lot of these books tend to be a little too positive. They present everything and everyone in the best possible light and avoid complex or uncomfortable issues. I'm trying to avoid those in this list. The second major frustration is the physical quality of the books themselves. Most of them are not super well designed or edited, and even those released by proper publishing companies often have noticeable misspellings or errors. The reproduction of a lot of the images isn't great, and because there aren't a lot of copies available, and this is a tiny market, some of the books get really expensive. But the biggest hurdle I faced as an English speaker is the language barrier. If you genuinely want to read the best history of Luxembourg, the single best thing you can do is learn French. The top tier books are available in French, sometimes German, sometimes in Luxembourgish, and only rarely in English or Portuguese. I do quite a bit of reading in French, but I know that's not really an option for most people who are listening to this podcast. So let's talk about the books themselves. Starting with the closest thing to a gold standard that exists in English. The Rise of Luxembourg from Independence to Success by Emile Hague. And this was published in 2021. That was the fourth edition published by Ernster, which is the big bookseller in Luxembourg. And it is a beautiful book. It is wonderfully written, and crucially, it is beautifully designed. It's the highest quality history of Luxembourg I have found available in English. The only tragedy is that it is currently out of print. I know at least two of the clerks who I've talked to at the all-English Ernster bookstore in Luxembourg City, and I all think that it should be reprinted, but I don't know how much poll we actually have. Fortunately, there is the French original, which is uneussite originale, that is still in print. And so if you do read French, I would highly recommend picking up a copy of that next time you're in Luxembourg City or looking for it online. And if you do speak French or German, there are two books that I think are really, really great that are both written by a historian, Gilbert Rausch, who is sort of Luxembourg's historian par excellence. He sadly passed away in 2016, but his works are still very monumental. And then for shorter options in French or German, there's Michel Poly's Histoire du Luxembourg Geschichte Luxembourg, which is a most more concise book. I'm pretty sure that it's used as kind of an introductory textbook. They're short books, but the history is really solid. So if you speak French or German, I'd get one of those. On the other hand, if you want more accessible titles, you might find in English. These are books that I would recommend as an introduction to Luxembourg, but they do come with some caveats. The first is Luxembourg America, 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries by the Roots and Leaves Association. This was published in 2015 by the Luxembourg American Cultural Center in Belgium, Wisconsin. It is a decent read. It is divided into three parts the basics of Luxembourg's history and geography, and then the rest is about the Luxembourger American experience and focuses on the area around the museum in Wisconsin. This is not a particularly in-depth book, but it is a good introduction to the basics of the country's modern makeup. Honestly, I think that this would be a perfect book for someone doing a report on their Luxembourgish heritage for fifth-grade social studies class or something. That kind of parade of Nations Day where you put on your little peasant outfit and say moyen and hand out Knittelin. So go get your A kids. A good companion book to the Roots and Leaves Association's book might be Luxembourg, The Clogshaped Duchy, a chronological history of Luxembourg from the Celts to the Present Day by Andrew Reid. And this was published in 2005. And while it is a nice companion to the Luxembourg-America book, the writing is exceedingly dry. The facts are presented strictly in chronological order, which does not make for the most engaging read. What's more concerning to me is that there are no illustrations or maps, and critically no bibliography or citations. And that is a little suspect. I honestly would have assumed that this book was written by AI if it hadn't been published 20 years ago. And that brings me to a big warning. There are several books online that are AI written, like The History of Luxembourg from Frankish Empire to European Union, which is one of the top hits on Amazon. Be careful to avoid this AI slop, especially on a platform like Amazon, and especially anything that's self-published. Finally, there is an older work that was published in 1995 that I see a lot of used copies online. That is The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg: The Evolution of Nationhood by James Newcomer. Newcomer was an American soldier who helped liberate Luxembourg in World War II and fell in love with the country. He wrote books about Luxembourg, and they were deeply appreciated in Luxembourg at the time. He was even made commander of the Order of Merit by the Grand Duke. But Newcomer was not a historian. He was an English professor, and he is not exactly forthright about that in his books. I found a lot of outdated scholarship and a lot of editorializing, a lot of which is not exactly flattering 30 years on. So although this book is relatively easy to get your hands on, I would read it with a big, big grain of salt. There are two categories of nonfiction books that I want to mention, even though they are not straight-up histories of Luxembourg. The first category is modern looks of the countries. And if you're looking for that, you have to check out Mike McQuaid's books, An American in Luxembourg, An American Still in Luxembourg, published in 2017 and 2023. Now, McQuaid is a YouTube guy and a writer, an American from Seattle who ended up in Luxembourg, acquired citizenship, even having to take the Spochen test to do it. His books are definitely about day-to-day expat life, and they offer great insight into the culture of the modern country. They're absolutely entertaining books, but as you expect, they are not exactly meaty when it comes to the history of Luxembourg, and that's fine because that's not what they promise. The second category are books that are not specifically about Luxembourg, but in my view, they do an excellent job telling the story of the greater region between France and Germany. Both are written for a very wide audience. They're serious about the history, but they are not dry, and they're written in friendly, approachable voices. The first is The Discovery of France: Historical Geography by Graham Robb, written in 2007. And this book does a terrific job of explaining how the technology available to people in different historical eras really affected how they lived, and not just the nobility, but common people. It makes it a lot easier to imagine everyday life in these time periods, which most books miss because they're focused on political decision making and large historical events, like who's marrying whom and which duke is trying to assassinate which bishop. For a lot of people who are Luxembourger Americans, we really want to know more about like how our ancestors lived. And this book actually does a pretty good job of that. So I would really recommend it for that. And finally, there is one book that is the third in a trilogy on the history of the Germanic peoples, and that is Lutherania, a personal history of Europe's Lost Country by Simon Windner. Now, the title is a reference to the historical region that includes Luxembourg, and it also includes everything from Flanders through Alonia and Elsays Lorraine and Zaarland and parts of Switzerland and Italy, everything between the German and the French-speaking worlds. And I found this book to be extremely charming and incredibly amusing. The author is witty, but still produces a really solid historical work and an account of the region. And he has an enthusiasm for the history that is extremely infectious. And Wintner has this great passage where he refers to Luxembourg as a coelacanth, a living fossil or an anachronism, but one that personifies the persistence and the stubbornness of the people from this area who had to be persistent and stubborn to survive. So that's my bookshelf and my recommendations. If you decide to dive into the history of Luxembourg, prepare for a little bit of a challenge, maybe learn some French, and hopefully this guide will help you avoid the dry or outdated stuff. You can find complete details about all of these books on our website, bactu.lu, along with links to some of the books that I highly recommend. I really encourage you to check them out, and if you do, happy reading!

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Next time on Back to Luxembourg, we'll have some friends stop by to try a few of our Luxembourg-inspired Thanksgiving dishes.

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And now that the holidays are starting, we'll talk about Luxembourg's Christmas time traditions.

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Look for that episode on Tuesday, November 25th, 2025. For more from Back to Luxembourg and to get in touch, visit our website at back2.lu.

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If you like the episode, please subscribe and write a review on the podcast service of your choice.

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Thanks for listening. I'm Rebecca Seymours.

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And I'm Matthew Foster. Until next time, Abiento, Yesh Beta, and of course, Addie.