Aisling Guilfoyle Crowned 2025 Luxembourg Rose

French-Irish woman, Aisling Guilfoyle, was crowned the 2025 Luxembourg Rose at the 17th edition of the Luxembourg Rose Ball that took place on Saturday 17 May 2025 at the Parc Hotel Alvisse in Luxembourg-Dommeldange. 

The Rose of Tralee International Festival is one of Ireland’s largest and longest running festivals. Dating back to 1959, it celebrates Irish communities and in particular young women of Irish descent (Roses), from countries all around the world.

The evening began with a crémant reception for the 240 guests, followed by welcome addresses from Ireland’s Ambassador to Luxembourg, Jean McDonald, and President of the Luxembourg Rose Asbl committee, Thérèse Collins. Thérèse Collins thanked all those who supported the event, including Ambassador McDonald, her fellow committee members and all those involved with the organising of the first Rose Ball since 2018 – the 2020 Rose Ball was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thérèse Collins emphasised the important role the Rose of Tralee plays in bringing communities together and thanked the six women participating in this year’s competition. Before introducing the last winner of the competition, Amber Crean, who has held the Luxembourg Rose title since 2018, Thérèse Collins announced that her involvement with the festival was coming to an end and she would shortly be stepping down from her role as President.

Young Irish dancers from Comhaltas Luxembourg entertained the audience during the three-course dinner that followed, before Master of Ceremonies, Jim Kent, introduced the Roses and their escorts to the room. He then interviewed each Rose in turn on the stage. 

First on stage was the eventual winner, French-Irish contestant, Aisling Guilfoyle, who works for Luxembourg House of Startups. Aisling spoke of her Castlemartyr, Co. Cork roots, her love of small local business and of how, through her active social media videos, her addiction to Luxlait cottage cheese came to the attention of the Luxlait company. The company subsequently forwarded her a significant amount of the cheese, which she confessed to eating in less than a week.

Aoife Burke from Kilkenny has lived in the Grand Duchy since 2023. She received support from her EY colleagues with whom she has worked for the past two years. Aoife, who would like to see Sunday opening hours in the country, said she loves the different cultures of Luxembourg and the strong Irish community. She confessed to being a troublemaker as a child, which included flushing her mother’s engagement ring down the toilet when she was only one-year-old.

Clare O’Donohoe moved to Luxembourg in 2019 and works in consulting. She said she would like to see Luxembourg’s international community being able to vote in the country’s national elections and encouraged Luxembourg residents to make their voice heard in the local elections. She is active on Instagram and recently received a message looking for help finding a girl someone had met at a bus stop in Luxembourg-Bonnevoie. Clare located the mystery girl within a few hours, which led to both parties going on a few dates together. She gave the first performance of the night with “When Irish eyes are Smiling”.

Luxembourg-born and raised Clare Stroomer recently completed her law degree in France, which included time studying in Cork. Clare noted she is very sporty but did not realise that, in Ireland, sports are played in all weathers, including rain, and proper footwear is essential. Clare demonstrated her multilingual talents to the audience with the help of the escorts and some guests.

Niamh O’Doherty, originally form Limerick, has spent almost six years in Luxembourg and works with the European Commission at Eurostat. She said she loves the international community and multicultural spirit present in the Grand Duchy, as well as the ease with which one can meet people of all nationalities. Niamh added, however, that she would like it if Luxembourg could relocate to the Atlantic Ocean as she really misses easy access to the sea.

The final Rose of the evening was Sáoirse Goes. Sáoirse was raised in Luxembourg to an Irish mother and Dutch father. Her enthusiastic group of supporters had many banners, including a life-sized one of Sáoirse herself, that ultimately won the evening’s best banner competition. She noted that she enjoys Irish literature and music and has studied in Trinity College Dublin. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Paris. Sáoirse is passionate about social justice issues especially gender inequality and women’s rights.

Judges Clare McGing, President of the Jury and 2010 Luxembourg Rose winner, Sinéad O’Donnell and Aibhstín Ó Coimín then retired to decide who would be crowned the winning Rose. The final decision was not only based on the evening’s on-stage interviews but also on formal interviews conducted the previous week, as well as on the candidates’ participation in events leading up to the selection, including the organised Rose bus tour in April 2025.

While guests awaited the decision, they were entertained by the escorts who gave improvised performances of scoring a winning goal and disco dancing. A charity tombola, offering numerous prizes, raised €5,700 for Autisme Luxembourg Asbl and Friends of the Coombe. DJ Alice Monnat enticed the majority of the guests onto the dance floor with her lively playlist.

The six candidates were called back on stage to hear Clare McGing announce Aisling Guilfoyle as Luxembourg’s 2025 Rose of Tralee contestant. The newly crowned Rose will travel to Ireland in August 2025 to represent the Grand Duchy in the Rose of Tralee International Festival. The five-day festival will culminate in the selection of the International Rose of Tralee who will represent Ireland and the festival, both locally and around the world, during her one-year reign.

UPDATE: the amount raised from the tombola was corrected following confirmation by the organisers, as was a judge's name.