[norwegianne]

Crown Prince Olav worried as he followed the development in the budget for the Norwegian military in 1938/39, especially when he looked at the rest of the world, but as a Crown Prince he couldn’t interfere with the politics. Both the King and the Crown Prince were very sceptical as to what was happening in Hitler’s Germany.

On April 9th, 1940, the Germans invaded Norway and, with a stroke of luck, the cannon Moses at Oscarsborg fortress hit the troop transport “Blücher.” This gave the Royal family, the Cabinet and the Storting a chance to escape Oslo, along with the gold reserves from the Norwegian bank.

They first made it to Hamar, but the German forces made quick progress and they had to move to Elverum. It was there that the Storting re-delegated their powers to the cabinet so that they had full power to act on behalf of Norway until such a time that the safety of the realm was at no longer risk.

It was at Elverum that the Norwegian Royal Family became separated, a separation that would last 5 years, as Crown Princess Märtha and the children left for Sweden and the adult males stayed behind to fight.

The Norwegians fought, with the help of Allied forces, but it soon became clear that the cabinet and the royals had to leave the country lest they would be captured by the Germans. They first left for Molde to the north of Norway, which was still free, but once Molde fell, they escaped to Great Britain

While in Great Britain, Crown Prince Olav and his father lived together, and they were a comfort to each other while the rest of the family was in the United States.

In 1944 Crown Prince Olav was proclaimed Commander of the Military forces when it came tiem to liberate Norway. He was the first member of the Royal Family to return to Norway, in May 1940, and had the difficult task of starting the clean up at the Palace and at Skaugum, in addition to performing his military duties.

The return of the rest of the royal family began a stabile period in their lives, one that lasted until Crown Princess Märtha died after 25 years of marriage. Her death cemented a closer bond between Crown Prince Olav and King Haakon. They were two widowers trying to get through life together, but a few years later when King Olav began his reign, he was alone.

After Crown Princess Märtha’s death in 1954, Olav was linked to a long list of ladies by the press, among them Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother to whom he was rumoured to have proposed marriage. In the book “Olav – Menneske og Monark” (Human and Monarch) he went as far as to say that Crown Princess Märtha was the only woman he had ever had such a relationship with and that he didn’t want the rumours to stay around after his passing and pass into accepted truth.

In 1957 after his father’s death, Olav became King of Norway. It was a position for which he had trained almost all his life. But, because as a Crown Prince, Olav had remained in the background and in his father’s shadow, people doubted that he would be as successful as King Haakon had been. The doubts would prove unjustified. King Olav took the motto “Alt for Norge” (All for Norway) as his father had done in 1905, and as his son would do in 1991, and he lived by it.

Coronations are not necessary in Norway as decreed by a law passed just after King Haakon’s and Queen Maud’s coronation, but King Olav wanted the Church’s blessing on his reign. The ceremony took place in Nidarosdomen, the old cathedral in Trondheim where his parent’s coronation had taken place.

Olav’s oldest daughter, Princess Ragnhild married Erling Lorentzen in 1953, when it was King Haakon who approved the marriage. The approval of his two youngest children’s marriages was more troublesome to King Olav. Princess Astrid had fallen in love with a man who was divorced, and certain people within the church had problems with the remarriage of divorced people. But as the Princess wasn’t in line to the throne, it was seen as a minor problem that resolved itself with time. What was more troubling to the general public was Harald’s choice of bride because she was a commoner. It was also troubling to the King as it went against everything he had been raised to believe. But, in 1968, the last of his children received the permission for which he had waited so long, and Norway had a Crown Princess again.

Since King Olav was the one leading Miss Sonja Haraldsen down the aisle where she was to become Crown Princess Sonja of Norway, one can safely say that he had nothing against Sonja.

King Olav enjoyed his children and grandchildren and he used to invite the ones living in Norway to dinner every Sunday either at the Palace or at Bygdøy.

In deference to his mother’s heritage and due to his love of dogs, he also owned several throughout his life.

King Olav travelled much, all over Norway, and the world. He was the first Norwegian king to visit an oil rig in the North Sea. He opened the first parliament of the Sami people. He was eager that the immigrants to Norway be integrated into Norwegian society, much as he and his parents had been when they arrived in Norway.

In the last years of his life King Olav suffered from various illnesses, but in the last month before his death he felt as if he was getting better. A few days before passing away, he attended a birthday party for his brother-in-law, Prince Carl Bernadotte. He had told his daughter, Princess Ragnhild, who was visiting with him, that he intended to leave after dessert. The one who was nearly the last to leave the party was King Olav.

On January 17, 1991, King Olav passed away at Kongsseteren surrounded by his three children.

Hours after the news became public, people gathered outside the Palace to light candles in the snow as a tribute to King Olav who was known as “The People’s King.”

Based on/pictures scanned from:
Olav V: 30 år på tronen
Olav – Menneske og Monark, Jo Benkow
Fra et folk i takknemlighet.