"Political group secretary is a 24-hour job"

Ady Richard is one of those people who are always dressed immaculately and do not leave the house without a suit jacket and matching pocket kerchief even in temperatures of over 30 degrees – sometimes even with a Panama hat. For our little photo session, in front of the CSV parliamentary group behind the Grand Ducal Palace, the CSV parliamentary group secretary was rather casually dressed by his standards, but this did not prevent some tourists from stopping, probably wondering whether the Grand Duke was being photographed here.

Model ship instead of hookah

The largest parliamentary group of all the parties represented in the Chamber of Deputies has now been housed for half an eternity in this winding building with the two turrets directly opposite the rear entrance of the Palais, from which it is only a stone's throw to Parliament. Only the LSAP and the Pirates are closer.

From his spacious office, however, Ady Richard looks neither to the back of the Palais nor to the rear of the Chamber, but to the sterile forecourt of the Museum of History and Art on the Fischmarkt. Incidentally, a few years ago, the then parliamentary party secretary and now Focus leader Frank Engel had his office in the same room, which at the time was characterised by a huge water pipe that caused all kinds of speculation. The current incumbent likes things more down-to-earth: instead of shisha, the room is now dominated by books and family photos; on the table in front of the visitors' sofa is a coffee table book with cartoons from the New Yorker and a model ship.