[norwegianne]

Queen Maud wanted Olav to live like other Norwegian boys. She took him skiing at least once, if not twice every day, weather permitting. She encouraged him into ski-jumping as he became older. When he was 15 years old, Olav got his first sailboat, and sailing became a vital part of his life.

When it came time to start Olav’s schooling, a governess, Halldis Bomhoff, was chosen. She was responsible for Olav’s education, but Queen Maud provided help with some subjects such as art. At some point, Olav was diagnosed as being dyslectic, but it only served to inspire him to put more effort into his schoolwork.

King Haakon formulated the plans for his son’s education, and he spent much time overseeing the Crown Prince with his homework. He felt that his own education was lacking when he began his naval career in Denmark and he was determined that Olav would have a better advantage than he had.

Halldis Bomhoff taught the Crown Prince until fifth grade, then Sigurd Halling, came from Halling School in Oslo, or Christiania as it was called then, to complete his middle education. Physical education was taught at the Palace, to where a whole class of boys from Halling School marched to have physical education with him. Olav had his own physical trainer, Captain Ramm Østgaard, to ensure that he was as physically fit as other boys his own age because he had very few friends of the same age with which to roughhouse at home.

In the latter years of Olav’s education, King Haakon was persuaded to let Olav attend school on a part time basis with boys his own age. It expanded his social sphere, as he became involved in the school’s extracurricular activities, such as the High School Society every Saturday, where he served briefly as Chairman. For a time, he was also the school’s newspaper editor.

Norwegian education finishes with a celebration called Russetid. Olav participated in Russetid, and unlike earlier years when he had a curfew, that year he could party as long as he wanted. King Haakon and Queen Maud had given Olav permission to hold the prom at the Palace with his classmates on the evening of May 17th. Not everyone can enjoy such an experience.

Two weeks after graduating from Halling School, Olav started at Krigsskolen, an Army Officers Academy. The program took three years to complete and Olav graduated fourth of his class. Since all 15 exams were judged anonymously, the results were based strictly on performance and not on the fact that Olav was a Crown Prince. Olav had 1.67 GPA, with 1.0 being the best.

Every year Krigsskolen had a ball and this became quite problematic for the Crown Prince when he reached the age where his romantic entanglements were followed in the newspapers all over Europe. Inviting someone to the ball was practically like inviting them to share the front pages of the newspapers. Olav made sure never to invite the same girl twice. And, it was impossible to invite the girl he really wanted to ask.