Former princess Tessy of Luxembourg’s fiancé has revealed he is ‘overjoyed’ in his first public statement about their engagement.
The ex royal, 34, announced the news of her engagement to financier and CEO Frank Floessel on Instagram on New Year’s Eve, penning: ‘Yes to 2021 and many more years together.’
However Frank has now shared his own joy over the big news, telling RTL Today: ‘After having mastered the extraordinary and difficult last year together, I took my chance to take the next step in our relationship and I am overjoyed that Tessy said yes.’
Tessy has spent much of the year in lockdown with her two sons Prince Gabriel of Nassau, 14, and Prince Noah of Nassau, 12, whom she shares with ex-husband Prince Louis of Luxembourg, 34, who she divorced last year.
Former princess Tessy of Luxembourg’s fiancé Frank Floessel has revealed he is ‘overjoyed’ in his first public statement about their engagement
Entrepreneur Frank got his master’s degree in ETH Zurich and Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is currently CEO and president of CBA Finance.
His LinkedIn page details how he built his second company over 16 years from 3 to 600 employees.
The entrepreneur also appears to be an active outdoors-man, and a keen backcountry skier.
The former royal appears to have known Frank for several years, having written about his work on her blog in September 2018.
The ex-royal announced her engagement to her hunky Swiss businessman boyfriend Frank online last week
The businessman said he had proposed after he and Tessy ‘mastered a difficult and extraordinary year together’
He has also acted as a trustee for the organisation Professors Without Borders, which Tessy co-founded in 2016.
The organisation shared a snap of the duo, alongside another trustee Piers Hedley, on their Facebook page in October 2019.
Tessy had previously sparked speculation that she had started a new relationship after sharing snaps with Frank on her Instagram page during lockdown.
The businessman was also pictured on a family hike with the proud mother and her two boys, with Tessy captioning the photos ‘Family is all that matters’ with two love heart emojis.
Tessy became a princess in 2006 when she married Prince Louis, with the couple sharing two sons and going on to divorce in April last year
The entrepreneur and businessman is currently working as CEO and president of CBA Finance, and according to his Linkedin page splits his time between Zurich and London
Earlier this year, she told Hello magazine that it ‘took a long time’ after her divorce, when she was stripped of her royal titles, explaining: ‘After every relationship it takes a while to heal when the heart has been broken. It has been really, really wonderful for me to realise that I am able to trust and love again. It’s nice to see that life goes on.’
Tessy went on to reveal how she how she is ‘very happy’ that her ex-husband Prince Louis maintains a close bond with their sons, despite the fact they can’t see each other during quarantine.
She said her son’s ‘love and trust’ with their father had ‘become stronger’ because of the separation during the pandemic.
Tessy has previously told how her family ‘suffered greatly’ when she became a princess in 2006 after marrying Prince Louis, whom she met in 2004.
Speaking on Sky News special report The Meghan Effect, Tessy explained: ‘My little cousin needed to change schools twice. My twin brother was incredibly bullied at work – he still is today.
Frank was first pictured on a family hike with the proud mother and her two boys on April 4, with Tessy captioning the photos ‘Family is all that matters’ with two love heart emojis
‘My sister, my parents suffered, my oldest brother doesn’t talk to me anymore because of that, because it was too much for him to handle.
‘That was when I married in, and when I got divorced, oh my gosh the same.’
Born a commoner, Tessy joined the Luxembourg Army in 2002 at the age of 18, rising to the rank of corporal. Two years later, when she was one of a handful of female UN peacekeepers in Kosovo, she met Prince Louis, who was visiting the army.
His family only became aware of their love affair when Tessy fell pregnant and gave birth aged 19, and unmarried, in September 2005, providing Grand Duke Henri with his first grandson.
Born a commoner, Tessy joined the Luxembourg Army in 2002 at the age of 18, rising to the rank of corporal. Two years later, when she was one of a handful of female UN peacekeepers in Kosovo, she met Prince Louis, who was visiting the army
It infuriated the royal family, and Prince Louis renounced any claim to the title of Grand Duke due to the constitutional crisis they had created by having a child out of wedlock.
When Tessy married Prince Louis in September 2006, six months after giving birth, in a modest country church wedding, the Grand Duke stripped her of any claim to his title.
The couple’s fairytale marriage broke down in 2016, and they were granted a decree nisi in February last year.
The couple’s fairytale marriage broke down in 2016, and they were granted a decree nisi in February last year
Tessy, who in 2017 was named Woman of the Decade by the Women Economic Forum for her work in women’s empowerment, now lives in London with Gabriel and Noah, while Louis lives in Paris – though she appears to be in isolation somewhere more rural.
The philanthropist is the co-founder of social enterprise Professors Without Borders which aims to improve access to higher education across the globe.
She also works as a consultant, public speaker and is a UN Association patron.