Luxembourg Freedom Award
Category
Manuscripts and documents
Date
15 Jul 1946
Materials
Leather, Paper
Measurements
440 x 335 x 15 mm
Order this imageCollection
Chartwell, Kent
NT 1101037
Summary
Luxembourg Freedom Award. Address in watercolour, dated 15th July 1946, in a brown leather folder tooled with the lion rampant, within gilt borders. Formerly part of the Heirloom Collection.
Full description
Churchill visited Luxembourg and Metz in July 1946 and this was received in person by Churchill on 15 July 1946. The Churchill Archive contains a file: Public and Political: General: Visits and invitations: Metz, Luxembourg, Paris (July 1946). CHUR 2/237 including texts of speeches by Joseph Bech, Luxembourg Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Mayor of Luxembourg, and the President of the Luxembourg Parliament, on Churchill's visit (15 July 1946); programmes for Churchill's visit to Luxembourg and Metz; notes on Robert Schuman, the Mayor of Metz, and on Luxembourg. The Times anticipates but does not report the visit to Luxembourg. On 14 July Churchill was the third recipient (after Eisenhower & Prince Regent Charles of Belgium) of the Military Medal of Luxembourg instigated by the Dowager Grand Duchess. At the Grand Ducal Palace police and soldiers struggled to hold back the crowd. As a souvenir of his visit Churchill was given a postcard printed specially for the occasion which both he and the Grand Duchess Charlotte the signed. On the postcard he was described as ‘Winston Churchill, Ex-Premier’. The Luxembourg-born sculptor Auguste Trémont (1892-1980) is best known for his 'big cats'. The present lion is a reduction of one of the pair outside Luxembourg City Hall that were cast in Paris in 1932. The Churchill Archive contains a file: Public and Political: General: Visits and invitations: Metz, Luxembourg, Paris (July 1946). CHUR 2/237 including texts of speeches by Joseph Bech, Luxembourg Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Mayor of Luxembourg, and the President of the Luxembourg Parliament, on WSC's visit (15 July 1946); programmes for WSC's visit to Luxembourg and Metz; notes on Robert Schuman, the Mayor of Metz, and on Luxembourg. There is a 9-minute blurry Youtube (silent with French captions) film of highlights of this visit on 14-15 July 1946: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKSxywpNNDc
Marks and inscriptions
Dated 15th July 1946