Apéritif
During the nice apéritif, with free drinks and food, you could find the princely family, people, politicians and press mixing up at the garden of Vaduz Castle. Members of the princely family living abroad could be watched talking with friends and acquaintances they hadn't seen for ages, Prince Joseph Wenzel tapped beer, while the Fürst and Hereditary Prince gave tens of interviews to radio and journalists. I managed to have a short word with Hereditary Prince Alois who told me he would only become the 'Stellvertreter' (substitute) of his father on August 15, 2004, and that he didn't know when he would become the Fürst. Telling him that that could last another 50 years (Fürst Hans Adam II is only 58 at the time, so why not), he had to laugh. Later on asking a Liechtenstein lady I had met earlier, I found out that the illness Hereditary Princess Sophie had suffered from at the beginning of the year had been a brain tumor. Shortly afterwards I heard her telling some people that it happily had been 'benignant', but that it had been a difficult period for the family. She joked that the short haircut had been very handy with the hot weather this summer. A short time afterwards I quickly followed a Luxembourg photographer who had just asked the Hereditary Princely Couple if he could take an 'official' photo of them. I didn't want to miss that opportunity of course. Unfortunately it rained from time to time and it didn't look as if it was going to stop soon, so in the early afternoon I decided to walk down to Vaduz to see what was going on there.
Photos: Netty Leistra