The Grandest Duchy

The smallest member of NATO was the one least troubled by the alarms and arguments over European defense. Although Luxembourg was for centuries fought over by France and Germany, its 153 turreted castles now serve as tourist attractions, and last week its 327,000 subjects were concerned with a purely sentimental occasion. It was one of those episodes suggesting that, despite the new Europe's growing pains, the old Europe somehow goes on.

"Charlotte, mir him ek guer! [Charlotte, we love you]," cried thousands of weeping, waving burghers, crowding around the palace, right across the street from the showrooms of the capi tal's chief undertaker. At 68 the longest-ruling monarch in Europe, Grand Duchess Charlotte abdicated in favor of her son, Jean Benoit Guillaume Marie Robert Louis Antoine Adolphe Marc d'Aviano, 43, who promised to strive to "ban all that remains of moral and material misery" in his domain.

The task ought not to be taxing, since under his mother's rule, which began just after World War I, Luxembourg came to enjoy the highest standard of living in Europe. There is no unemployment in the duchy's 999 sq. mi., industry is booming, and $70 million in U.S. investments has gone into Luxembourg in the past decade. Grand Duke Jean and his wife, sister of Belgium's King Baudouin, should have plenty of time for their favorite sports--skiing, swimming and golfing.

As for Charlotte, she will be able to tend her rose garden, aided by her husband, Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma, 71. A descendant of France's Sun King Louis XIV (1643-1715), the prince long ago stopped gambling with the family fortune and in old age has turned dutiful and thoroughly bourgeois--in fact, Luxembourgeois.

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