King Harald's 70th: we 'go' to Norway this weekend

Happy 70th birthday King Harald!

Today is the 70th birthday of King Harald of Norway, and in Norway five days of celebrations have begun. Why are we mentioning the Norwegian royals? Well, it is to get you in the mood because this Friday and Saturday Prince Henrik, Crown Prince Frederik, Crown Princess Mary, Prince Christian and Prince Joachim will be going to Oslo to join in the party, which will include many European royals and special guests at various events and a gala ball (guess Prince Christian will be sitting that one out!). Queen Margrethe is not attending because she is recovering from her recent knee surgery. Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik are close to King Harald and Queen Sonia. Up until recent years, Queen Margrethe and Queen Sonia skiied together each year. For the younger generation, Frederik was the supporter (best man) to Haakon at his wedding to Mette-Marit, while both Haakon and Mette-Marit are godparents to Christian. Recently Frederik, Mary and Christian made a private weekend visit to Skaugum to stay with Haakon, Mette-Marit, Marius, Ingrid Alexandra and Sverre Magnus (born not long after Christian).

Today the Norwegian royal family has attended a service at the Trinity Church in Oslo. There has been a gift giving ceremony of the statue of King Harold's mother Crown Princess Märtha in the Palace Park (next to the Royal Palace). King Harald will be the guest of honour at a birthday banquet hosted by the government at the historic Akershus Fortress and Castle this evening. Prince Henrik will be staying in the Royal Palace in Oslo and the younger generation royals (including Frederik, Mary and Christian) will be staying at the Skaugum Estate of Haakon and Mette-Marit. The Danish royals will be in Norway from Friday to Saturday and we will bring you more as it becomes available. For one of the festivities the guests will be in national dress, which means we will see Mary in Greenlandic or Færoese dress, most likely Færoese national dress -- it will be interesting to see what national outfits the many royals will wear!

The guestlist (in Norwegian but the names are recognisable) and the program:

23 February
1. Foreign royal guests arrive at Gardermoen on Friday
2. Most will attend the Oslo City Hall celebration performance in honour of the birthdays of both the King and the Queen's (who turns 70 in the summer). The cultural performance is a gift from all the Norwegian municipalities and counties to the King.
3. The public will be able to see the royal family and their guests outside City Hall
4. The performance will be telecast on TV2 and afterwards Haakon and Mette-Marit will host a dinner for royal guests and heads of state at Skaugum Estate

24 February
5. On Saturday the King and Queen have invited everyone to a day at the Norwegian Museum for Cultural History at Bygdøy
6. Gala dinner with dancing at the Royal Palace in the evening with a surprise from the military for the king in the palace Square for the king at 10.45pm which the public can attend

25 February
7. Guests still in Oslo on Sunday are invited on a sleigh ride and lunch in the winter landscape

The Presidents of Iceland and Finland will be accommodated in hotels. The King and Queen of Spain, Prince Henrik of Denmark, the King and Queen of Belgium, the Grand Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg and Prince Albert of Monaco will be accommodated at the Royal Palace. Other royals will stay at Skaugum and the Royal Lodge.

Norwegian Royal House website
photos of the Norwegian Royal Family
The whole Norwgian Royal Family
Norwegian royal history - shows the close connection between the Danish and Norwegian royal families

Aftenposten - Bitter cold chills royal birthday bash (English)
Aftenposten - King gets statue of his mother (English)
VG.no - Rørt konge avduket statue (Norwegian, but check the photos) - the king is very affected by the statue of his mother, who died in 1954, as he unveils the gift to him located in the Palace Park
Again, for some even better photos Aftenposten - – Du står som en påle

VG TV video clip (1:50) - shows the arrival of the Norwegian Royal Family at the church service

Aftenposten - Varsler "Sibirkulde" - there are sub-zero temperatures in Oslo, so all visitors will need to pack warm clothes! (you can see a very debonair snowman outside the Royal Palace)


Henne.no Norwegian fashion magazine - Crown Princess Mette-Marit has done a photo shoot and talked about Norwegian design.
Henne's gala evening dress wish list for the visiting queens, crown princesses and princesses, most gowns are Valentino.... we are not quite sure about the canary yellow dress suggested for Mary!!



1. The church service today 2. The regent couple Harald and Sonia and the Crown Prince Couple Haakon and Mette-Marit 3. three generation photo of King Harald, Crown Prince Haakon and Princess Ingrid Alexandra 4. Queen Sonia 5. & 6. Crown Princess Mette-Marit 7. & 8. Princess Märtha Louise (all the royal portraits from the NRF website)


Added: Aftenposten photo gallery - arriving at the Trinity Church (20 photos)
Aftenposten photo gallery 2
Photo - King Harold unveils a statue of his mother
Photo- Mette-Marit, Marius, Haakon, Märtha Louise and Ari Behn

What's up?

Left, Skaugum outside Oslo.

Frederik, Mary and Christian have spent the weekend at the home of the Crown Prince and Princess of Norway, actually an organic farm outside of Oslo. We don't really have photos of the goings on because the Norwegian couple's home Skaugum is a private property. Likewise with the christening, there were no arrival and departure photos because all the proceedings were inside the Royal Palace in Oslo. It was extremely cold in Oslo over the weekend (around -16 to -8!)so not too amenable to the outdoor life!

This is the christening gift by the Nowegian Government to Prince Sverre Magnus. His art appreciation starts early!

Good friends Queen Margrethe and Queen Sonja of Norway are now together on their annual skiing holiday.

Right, as Sverre Magnus is held by his grandmother Queen Sonja, Ingrid, the future queen of Norway takes in the christening from the stairs while her half-brother Marius checks her out.

Here are some news reports....

A pre-christening story from Hello! magazine.


A prince and his heir take to the air

by Fiona Hudson in London
5 March 2006




Denmark's newest royal hit the road again yesterday as his parents took him on his second official visit outside Denmark.
Crown Prince Frederik and Australian-born Princess Mary arrived in Norway with four-month-old Christian for Europe's latest royal christening.
Looking happy and relaxed, the prince carted his first-born across the airport tarmac in an expensive-looking baby capsule amid low-key security.
Rosy-cheeked Prince Christian was well rugged up against the cold.
One of the endearing features of the royal couple has been Prince Frederik's willingness to be seen in public as a doting father.
The royals were in Oslo for the christening of Prince Sverre Magnus, son of Norway's Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit.
The Norwegians were among the host of royals and other dignitaries who recently attended Christian's own christening.
Last month his parents took him on a whistle-stop tour to Germany.
A proposed trip to Australia has been put off until 2007.
From Sydney's The Daily Telegraph.

Meanwhile, a bit of cultural exchange has been reported in Australia and Denmark:

Danes flock to see land where Mary was born

By Phillip Hudson
March 5, 2006

THE fairytale marriage of Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik to Australian-born Mary Donaldson has created a tourism boom.
Since the prince found his bride in a pub during the Sydney Olympics, there has been a 23 per cent leap in the number of Danes visiting Australia.
Last year Danish tourist arrivals increased by 10 per cent to 22,597 people . Although it was just a fraction of the 5.5million visitors to Australia in 2005, the rise is against the trend for Europe and is being attributed to just one person.
"I am 100 per cent quite sure this is because of the royal wedding," says Danish consul- general Jorgen Mollegaard Kristensen. "So many people want to see where the Crown Princess was born and where she came from."
Many Danes were curious about Australia because they had seen so much about it on TV.
Federal Tourism Minister Fran Bailey said Tourism Australia had tried to capitalise on the publicity, particularly by attracting Danish backpackers.
"With her glamour and down-to-earth style, Princess Mary has proved a real success for Danish tourism to Australia," Ms Bailey said.
"In Denmark, awareness and interest in Australia has skyrocketed and more and more Danes are now making the trek Down Under. Last year's royal visit was very successful, with the accompanying Danish media beaming fantastic images back into Europe."
Asked if other Danes hoped to find their husband or wife in Australia, Mr Kristensen replied: "It could easily be so." But he also said Australians could be looking for love in Denmark. "I have girls call me and ask, How do I find a Danish prince?'," he said.
The Bureau of Statistics said since 2001 there had been a 37 per cent rise in the number of Australians visiting Denmark.
From Sydney's The Sun Herald/SMH and Denmark's B.T.

It has also been reported in Tasmania's Hobart Mercury that preliminary visits and meetings anticipate a sister city relationship between Hobart and Viborg. Both are the second oldest cities in their respective countries.
Links: Discover Tasmania 2 3 4 5 6 7 and Viborg 2 3 4 5 6

Mary to be a godmother?

Crown Princess Mette-Marit with Mary and Christian at the christening reception at Christiansborg in Copenhagen last month.

Aftenposten in Norway has a story today that Frederik and Mary will attend the christening of Norway's Prince Sverre Magnus in Oslo next month.

The Danish court's spokeswoman Lis M. Frederiksen confirms to Aftenposten that Mary and Frederik will be at the christening on 4 March 2006 at the chapel inside The Royal Palace in Oslo.

Frederik is a godfather to HRH Princess Ingrid Alexandra, heir to the Norwegian throne, after her father Crown Prince Haakon. CP Haakon is godfather to Prince Christian, as we know, following the recent christening in Copenhagen. Ingrid Alexandra is the first child to Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit while Prince Sverre Magnus is their second born. Mette-Marit has a son, Marius, from a previous relationship.
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It has been widely speculated that Crown Princess Mary will be asked to be godmother to Prince Sverre Magnus, continuing the strong relationship between the Norwegian and Danish royal houses [edit: this was not so in the end].