To clarify I was working from memory this morning shortly before having to dash off to work so that's why I was being rather speculative. As such I thought I remembered your country shared a monarch with the Dutch, but not the exact details. I know of course that their been separate for quite a while but didn't have time to check up on the details.
I've always heard that the bulk of the population was German speaking so if wrong on that I apologise. Checking on Wiki, as a quick 1st check point I notice that it says that the language is a western German language spoken mainly in Luxembourg and spoken by some 390,000 people worldwide. Reading elsewhere since about 60% of the population are expats workers it is fairly clear that it is therefore the primary language of the bulk of the 'home' population. As such I had misunderstood the exact relationship linguistically.
It also says on the history "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 (except the Arelerland, the area around Arlon) became what is the present state of Luxembourg.[19]"
In terms of 1839 the British did meddle in something that concerned them very much, i.e. who controlled what is now Belgium and especially its ports. Mainly to ensure that it didn't come under French control. [Which is exactly the reason why the neutrality of Belgium was so important and Britain declared war on Germany in 1914!] I don't know who decided that the Luxembourgish population would be split off from the French speaking proportion that went to Belgium but it wouldn't have been a primarily concern of Britain. Suspect there was some trading off between the major powers with probably neither France or Germany wanting it going to an independent Belgium but if you can provide an actual source for your suggestion that it was solely a British decision I would be very interested. I notice that you yourself says that at the end of WWI there was a referendum on the issue and union with Belgium was the 3rd choice and continued independence the view of the majority. Which does suggest that union with Belgium then wasn't a particularly popular choice.
60
@Daru
To clarify I was working from memory this morning shortly before having to dash off to work so that's why I was being rather speculative. As such I thought I remembered your country shared a monarch with the Dutch, but not the exact details. I know of course that their been separate for quite a while but didn't have time to check up on the details.
I've always heard that the bulk of the population was German speaking so if wrong on that I apologise. Checking on Wiki, as a quick 1st check point I notice that it says that the language is a western German language spoken mainly in Luxembourg and spoken by some 390,000 people worldwide. Reading elsewhere since about 60% of the population are expats workers it is fairly clear that it is therefore the primary language of the bulk of the 'home' population. As such I had misunderstood the exact relationship linguistically.
It also says on the history "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 (except the Arelerland, the area around Arlon) became what is the present state of Luxembourg.[19]"
In terms of 1839 the British did meddle in something that concerned them very much, i.e. who controlled what is now Belgium and especially its ports. Mainly to ensure that it didn't come under French control. [Which is exactly the reason why the neutrality of Belgium was so important and Britain declared war on Germany in 1914!] I don't know who decided that the Luxembourgish population would be split off from the French speaking proportion that went to Belgium but it wouldn't have been a primarily concern of Britain. Suspect there was some trading off between the major powers with probably neither France or Germany wanting it going to an independent Belgium but if you can provide an actual source for your suggestion that it was solely a British decision I would be very interested. I notice that you yourself says that at the end of WWI there was a referendum on the issue and union with Belgium was the 3rd choice and continued independence the view of the majority. Which does suggest that union with Belgium then wasn't a particularly popular choice.