Prince Jean's godparents were Prince Felix of Luxembourg and Princess Margrethe of Denmark. Prince Jean was educated in Luxembourg, Switzerland and France, where he obtained his baccalaureate. He then undertook a language course at the Bell School of Languages in Cambridge England. In 1977, Prince Jean began his military officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, England and member of the Champion Platoon, he was commissioned in August 1978. He was made a captain of the Luxembourg Army in 1979. After completing his university education in Geneva, he went to New York and joined W.R. Grace as a financial analyst working in the Finance, Planning & Analysis Division of the Group that reported to the President & CEO of the company, at the time, Mr J. Peter Grace. Back in Europe in 1985, in 1986 he obtained an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
Career
Prince Jean works in the water industry, he is an advisor to the GDF-Suez Group, Executive VP of the Suez Fondation and a Member of the Executive Board of Degrémont, a subsidiary of Suez Environnement. Prince Jean has been President of the Chambre de Commerce belgo-luxembourgeoise en France. In 2006 he bought the Southern African Water subsidiary of Suez Environnement, WSSA and created Mea Aqua, with the objective of developing water and energy solutions in the Middle East and in Africa. Mea Aqua and its subsidiaries employ today over 2,500 employees. Prince Jean is a member of the board of the MIP, a business school based in Paris and a board member of a number of financial institutions: Banque Degroof Luxembourg, EFG Bank and EFG International, Ecofin.
Marriage and family
On 27 May 1987, Prince Jean married morganatically in Paris, France, Hélène Suzanna Vestur, now a high civil servant, Conseiller d'Etat and judge, daughter of François Philippe Vestur and Cécile Ernestine Buisson. His wife and children bore the title "Count of Nassau" from 21 September 1995. On 27 November 2004 Grand-Duc Henri issued an Arrêté Grand-Ducal upgrading the titles of Prince Jean's children to Prince/Princesse de Nassau with the qualification of Altesse Royale, without succession rights. The prince and former countess divorced in 2004, having had four children together:
Princess Marie-Gabrielle Cécile Charlotte Sophie of Nassau, married to Antonius Benedikt Clemens Douglas Emanuel Willms, son of Hayo Willms and Marie Theresia Reichsgräfin von :de:Goëss |Goëss. The civil wedding took place on 15 May 2017 in Luxembourg City; the religious wedding took place on 2 September 2017 in Marbella, Spain.
*Zeno Philippe Leopold Marcus d'Aviano Willms
Prince Constantin Jean Philippe Marie Albert Marc d'Aviano of Nassau
*Felix, whose mother is Kathryn Mechie
Prince Wenceslas François Baudoin Léopold Juraj Marie Marc d'Aviano of Nassau
Prince Carl-Johan Félix Julien Marc d'Aviano of Nassau
On 18 March 2009, Prince Jean married Diane de Guerre in a civil ceremony in Roermond. She is a daughter of Belgian aristocrat General Claude Gaston de Guerre and German Countess Eugenie :de:Wolff-Metternich|Wolff-Metternich zur Gracht, and based on the house law was granted the title of "Comtesse de Nassau".
