The experiences the Scandinavian heirs made during the travel to Svalbard and Greenland will be published in a book. Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Victoria and Crown Prince Frederik have written an own chapter about the impressions they got during the journeys.

In summer 2008 the 3 Scandinavian heirs visited Svalbard. They went aboard an icebreaker to get better impressions of the climate change in the Arctic.

In summer 2009 they went on a trip to Greenland. There they focus on the climate change and it’s consequences.

The book, which includes the Royal experiences, is called “Royal polar expedition”. It is a result of the ravels and is published in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

The proceeds from the book will go to charity.

Click here to see a video about the Royal Arctic experiences.

Her_Majesty Danish Royals, Norwegian Royals, Swedish Royals Book Review, Books, International Polar Year, Prince Frederik, Prince Haakon, Princess Victoria

Crown Princess Victoria paid a visit to Kenya from November 11th to 14th. During the first day the Princess inaugurated the Conference of Climate Change Day, that is the biggest event during the Swedish EU presidency in Kenya.

Later the day she attended the opening of the Victoria Trade Council offices in Nairobi. There she took part in a colorful danshow with Maasai.

Princess Victoria mainly visited Kenya to inaugurate a school built by Gundua Foundation. The Crown Princess is a patron of the school. The Gundua secondary school in ex-Lewa provides more children the chance to educate themselves, although they live poor conditions.

During her last day in Kenya Victoria met the professor and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai. The women planted a tree as a symbol of the friendship between Kenya and Sweden. The Princess visited a Swedish school in Nairobi. Many children wanted to meet the Princess, who recieved flowers and gifts and took the time to answer the childrens’ questions.

You can find a thread about the visit to Kenya here.

Her_Majesty Swedish Royals Children, Kenya, Official Visit, Princess Victoria

Crown Prince Haakon visited Botswana from November 11th to 13th in his capacity as Goodwill Ambassador for UNDP. The Prince met Vice President Mompati Merafhe with whom he discussed key topics related to development cooperation effort. Afterwards he met the Minister for Foreign Affairs Phandu Skelemani and the permanent secretaries of the Ministries of Environment, Wildlife & Tourism, as well as local UN representatives.

On Thursday Prince Haakon paid a visit to the Okavango Delta, which is the world’s largest inland delta.
There he met with the local authorities and fishermen and talked to them about fishing conditions in the delta.

In the afternoon Prince Haakon visited Xakanaxa in the Moremi Game Reserve. There he had a look at how water resources are managed. The aim of the visit to Botswana is to look at the impact of climate change and the battle against poverty in Botswana.

Prince Haakon was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) in 2003. Since then he has visited Tanzania, Cambodia, Sierra Leone, Guatemala, Burundi, Mongolia and now Botswana.

You can read two articles about Haakon’s visit to Botswana here and here.

Her_Majesty Norwegian Royals Botswana, Climate Change, Official Visit, Poverty, Prince Haakon, United Nations

On November 10th Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf , his wife Silvia and Hamburg’s Mayor Ole von Beust were seen during a gala in Hamburg. Sweden’s Royal couple visited Germany to mark the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Swedish chamber of commerce in Germany. A video can be seen here (in German).

One day later, on November 11th, Queen Silvia attended a congress of her “World Childhood Foundation” at the Swedish Embassy to Germany in Berlin. The Queen’s foundation supports Berlin-based organisations, like a street-working project, aiding children that are victims of sexual abuse.

Today Her Majesty attended an event in Essen in the Ruhr Area. There she attended an award ceremony that also marked the 10th anniversary of the World Childhood Foundation. The Queen watched a children’s rights quiz and handed out certificates to the winners.

Her_Majesty Swedish Royals Awards, Carl XVI Gustaf, Children, Germany, Queen Silvia, World Childhood Foundation

On November 8th Crown Prince Haakon, Princess Mette-Marit and their children Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus attended the Norwegian Football Cup Final at Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo, cheering.

After the game the little heir to the throne Ingrid Alexandra helped her mom and the team president Sondre Kåfjord to hand out trophies to the football heroes. The 5-year-old Princess smiled and shook the players’ hands. She showed that she is already starting to do very small representation duties as Norwegian Princess.

Although blue blood runs through her veins, the little Princess did not hesitate to cover her ears when she was bothered by the noise of the stadium.

A thread can be found here.

Her_Majesty Norwegian Royals Prince Haakon, Prince Sverre Magnus, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, Princess Mette-Marit, Soccer, Sport

Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit visited the after-care project FRI in Drammen. FRI is a project that helps former inmates to return to society by offering networking, residential and work training.

Representatives go into prison and start motivating people. Inmates who are associated with FRI get a supervisor. Housing, job training, community and networks are offered to them. The project is run by the Church City Mission and a number of partners who strongly support it; for example the police, the Housing Bank, Correctional Services, Red Cross, the business community and the municipality.

“This was incredibly nice and inspiring. That kind of building we all want”, said HRH Crown Prince Haakon during the visit today.

You can find a thread about the Church City Mission here.

Her_Majesty Norwegian Royals Prince Haakon, Princess Mette-Marit

Princess Madeleine of Sweden and Princess Benedike of Denmark attended the International Horse show at Flyinge in Southern Sweden on Wednesday, November 04th 2009.

Princess Madeleine just returned home from her month-long stay in New York.
Yesterday the Princess attended a large horse show. Among the participants in the show was also Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, who competes in the World Cup in dressage. Nathalie is the daughter of Princess Benedikte of Denmark, who joined Madeleine.
The two Princesses arrived in a horse-drawn carriage in the large indoor riding school where the show was held.

You can find a gallery here.

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Princess Märtha Louise of Norway and Elisabeth Samnoy have written a new book: “Møt din skytsengel”, or in english:”Meet your Guardian Angel”.
In that book the two women teach others how to get in touch with angels.

“A Guardian Angel is personal. Everyone has an own guardian angel. To find it,you have to face yourself in an honest and loving way.”, the princess said in an interview.
She also talked about how scared she was to investigate her internal “I was convinced that I basically was an evil person” she says She adds that she did not find malice, but only love.
You can see a whole interview with the two authors here.
You can find a special page about the book at facebook. Have a look here.

On October 29th 2009 Princess Märtha Louise spoke about her angel school and the new book to TV-host Fredrik Skavlan in the talkshow “Skavlan” on Swedish public chanel
SVT in Stockholm.

You can find a thread about the new book here.

Her_Majesty Norwegian Royals Books, Facebook, Princess Märtha Louise

Today Queen Sonja and Crown Princess Mette-Marit attended the gala night for the Pink Ribbon with the musical “Mamma Mia!” at the Folketeateret in Oslo.

The performance was part of the Cancer Society and the Association for the “Pink Ribbon” campaign.
All proceeds from the musical show is also going to be used for breast cancer research.
The Queen pointed out how important that topic is for her:
“This is about raising awareness. It is very, very many who are affected, and we all know someone who is affected. Who knows when it’s our turn? I think Pink Ribbon action is a great and very great way to meet a challenge on.”

Queen Sonja also revealed that she already saw “Mamma Mia!” 3 times:
“I’ve seen it twice before with Lisa Stokke in London. And it was fun”, the Queen reveals.

You can find the official homepage of the “Pink Ribbon” campaign here.

Her_Majesty Norwegian Royals ABBA, Cancer, Princess Mette-Marit, Queen Sonja, Theatre

Today HM King Harald and HM Queen Sonja invited the Parliament’s representatives to dinner at the Palace. Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Princess Astrid also attended the gala. The gala for Stortinget is part of an over 100 year old tradition.

In 1906 King Haakon first invited the members of the Parliament to a gala dinner. It was held every year since then and only interrupted by the years during the war. The first dinner was held in the Great Hall. There four long tables formed a horseshoe. In the first year the Parliament Dinner was held in winter. Nowadays the dinner is held in October, short time after the opening of the Parliament. In 1908 the dinner was moved from the Great Dining Room. More then 225 people are invited to the gala nowadays.

During this year’s dinner King Harald appeared from the jolly corner and served several jokes during his speech. The King’s speech before the dinner is served is a permanent fixture.

Read more about the history of the parliamental gala here.
A thread can be found here.

Her_Majesty Norwegian Royals Haakon VII, Harald V, Parliament, Prince Haakon, Princess Astrid of Norway, Princess Mette-Marit, Queen Sonja