General News and Information for the Norwegian Royal Family: 2003 -


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ROYAL NORWAY said:
Dagbladet is a gossip newspaper that no one takes seriously here, and they have struggled economically in recent years. They've been after the monarchy for 40 years. They have a story about the royals today too. This time it is the Crown Prince.
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thank you for the extra info Royal Norway. :flowers:
They are now indeed writing about Haakon and his stock in the company Yara, which he opened in 2004
Kronprins Haakon var døråpner for Yara i utlandet. Eier selv ukjente aksjer i selskapet - kultur - Dagbladet.no
Kronprins Haakon informerte ikke om aksjer - hegnar.no

"Dagbladet has also been given Yara's share register. Where is Crown Prince Haakon shareholding of 300 shares.
In 2004, Crown Prince Haakon opener for Yara during an official visit to Thailand, without it has been known that he owns shares in the company.
- This role combination is problematic. Where on one side has interests, and on the other side works to promote Norwegian interests, says Professor Karl Harald Søvig, at the Faculty of Law at the University of Bergen."
 
polyesco said:
I guess some are still questioning the money for the royal family.
Questions regarding the NRF using taxpayer provided monies for maintenance on the palaces also using this money for their private houses maintenance. ( I used google translate to "read" this so I might have understood it wrong)
Kong Harald og kronprins Haakon bruker hoffets penger p? private hus og hytter - kultur - Dagbladet.no
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Dagbladet is worse than Ekstra Bladet and Daily Fail combined.

The King/Queen and Haakon/Mette-Marit receives money from the state to cover all their personal expenses including repairs on their private properties.

But now it turns out that they have used the same people as the royal court uses to maintain the state's royal properties to carry out work for them on their own private properties. This is not a problem in itself, but it turns out that these people have been paid by the court for the work they have done on the royal familys private properties.

The government knew about it, and several members of the opposition have now said that they are willing to increase the money that the royal family receives from the state, so this is no biggie.
 
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:previous: thank you Royal Norway
I saw lots of posts on this on twitter but could not quite understand it fully.
:flowers:
 
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I see nothing wrong with the photos of the king. The King is 80 years old. There are royals younger than him that have much poorer health.
At his age it is expected that he needs some assistance.
 
Duke of Marmalade said:
These kissing-in-the-water pictures for the paparazzi are ridiculous!!
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I am glad I am not the only one who thought so. Several pictures showed Haakon & MM making eye contact with the camera.
I felt like I was watching a show. Their kissing and affectionsis seemed so stage.?
 
I don't understand, why do they need this show. They make it for years. For who do they want to show, that they love eachother? Since I have seen it, I think something is wrong with their love, marriage and family life... Mette-Marit is often theatrical, but why does Haakon play this with? They are the future king and queen of Norway!
 
Can u put a brief summary? The translation page practically tells nothing..
 
:previous: There is a person associated with the royal court who wrote a letter to Dagbladet on March 11.

He criticizes royal court managers and their management of the economy. He writes about power struggle where staffers are positioning themselves to keep their jobs after Haakon becomes king etc.

The problem as I and experts sees it:

1. The king is too kind and has let the court do what they want since he came to the throne in 1991.

2. The court and its economy were changed in 2001/2002 (which has created many problems) upon the recommendation of the court managers, Parliament and the Government.

The 3 biggest problems for the intellectual and policy-interested Haakon as future monarch:

1. Taking over after the warm, folksy, down to earth and extremely popular King Harald.

2. Stay away from politics.

3. He and Mette-Marit's way at dealing with the media.
 
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Annual report 2016 from the NRF
Annual report of the Royal Court for 2016 - The Royal House of Norway

"The accounts for the Civil List showed a surplus of NOK 6 628 814. Expenses in connection with the various jubilee celebrations are covered by previous appropriations. The accounts for the staff of Their Royal Highnesses The Crown Prince and The Crown Princess showed a deficit of NOK 1 459 461. This deficit will be covered by previous appropriations.
The accounts for “Åpent Slott” showed a surplus of NOK 619 162. This surplus will be added to the equity capital."

Cute picture found in the pdf of the King and his heir
http://imageupper.com/s02/1/3/O1493139736311997_1.png
 
There might be a visit of the NRF to Latvia in 2018.
https://www.nccl.lv/en/news/represe...uding-norway-expected-to-visit-latvia-in-2018

"In honor of Latvia's centenary celebrations this year, representatives from several European royal families are expected to visit Latvia, Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics told LETA. He explained that work is currently underway to organize visits to Latvia by several royal families, including the Dutch royal couple HM King Willem Alexander and HM Queen Maxima, as well as representatives from the Luxembourg, Swedish, Norwegian and British royal families."
 
fairy tale said:
There might be a visit of the NRF to Latvia in 2018.
https://www.nccl.lv/en/news/represe...uding-norway-expected-to-visit-latvia-in-2018

"In honor of Latvia's centenary celebrations this year, representatives from several European royal families are expected to visit Latvia, Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics told LETA. He explained that work is currently underway to organize visits to Latvia by several royal families, including the Dutch royal couple HM King Willem Alexander and HM Queen Maxima, as well as representatives from the Luxembourg, Swedish, Norwegian and British royal families."
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It's been made official: The CP Couple will do an official visit in April. I posted about it here http://www.theroyalforums.com/forum...a-and-lithuania-23-26-april-2018-a-44304.html :flowers:
 
One of the well-covered topics in the press here in Denmark these days is the Norwegian Kings-Horn.
https://politiken.dk/kultur/histori...gtig-rart-om-Danmark-gav-Kongshornet-tilbage«

It currently resides in the National Museum in Copenhagen, but the Norwegians have expressed a wish to have it presented to Norway. Preferably in connection with the reopening of the Norwegian National Museum in 2020.
The Kongshorn as it is called in Danish/Norwegian stems back from 1380, when King Håkon VI died and his wife Queen Margrethe became "Mistress of the North i.e. the de facto Queen of Norway, Denmark and Sweden, even if she was really "only" a regent for her sons.
Since then Denmark and Norway was a dual-kingdom until 1814, in reality Norway was pretty much a part of Denmark, with Danish kings on the throne.

The horn is as such an important and unique national symbol for the last medieval king of Norway. It's the only Norwegian horn of it's kind, where you can truly say, this is a horn worthy of a king!
As such the Norwegians have expressed a wish to have the horn not returned (because it was brought to Denmark by Queen Margrethe I, who now doubt wished to let her won son inherit it, and somehow it stayed in Denmark) but presented as a gift to Norway as a token of the close and good relations between the two countries.

It's not that simple actually. Because Queen Margrethe was daughter of King Valdemar, and although he was King of Denmark, he originated from the duchies of Schleswig & Holstein in what is now Northern Germany, so there is an affiliation with the DRF as well.

However, the sentiment here in DK seems to point towards a willingness to present the horn to Norway in the same way the Icelandic sagas were returned to Iceland where they are very much a national symbol.
And while we are talking about returning stuff, it has long been a Danish wish that the Swedes return a number of items, they robbed from us during the Danish-Swedish wars in the 1600's. - But the Swedes are reluctant, so we may have to invade soon, march on Stockholm and reclaim our treasures and while we are at it take back the old Danish lands of Halland, Blekinge and Skåne. ;)

But back to the horn. It's up to the Danish Minister of Culture to decide whether the horn should be presented to Norway. If that happens, which is far from unlikely, it will no doubt be a royal event.
I can very well imagine QMII (she's gonna take that one!) sailing to Oslo aboard Dannebrog and present it to King Harald at a ceremony.

- But what are the thoughts in Noway?
 
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ROYAL NORWAY said:
Well, let's go through what I wrote in post 579:

ROYAL NORWAY said:
Well, Princess Astrid and the late Princess Ragnhild stopped being members of the Royal House when they married ''non-royal'' men.
The media didn't want this to happen to Märtha when she married in 2002, but the King meant it would have been unfair to his sisters if she had retained her position, while they had to let go of theirs.
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It was Märtha herself who said this in an interview (I don't remember exactly when).


ROYAL NORWAY said:
It was the same with Sverre. The King and Haakon meant it would have been unfair to Raghnild, Astrid and Märtha if he was to retain his position after he marries. So, therefore, Haakon and MM thought it was best that he was born without being a member of the Royal House, because then he don't have to go through the same process as the princesses had to do, when they lost their positions.
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It was Haakon who said this in an interview (I don't remember exactly when).


ROYAL NORWAY said:
But to your question: I think the King decided that Sverre (despite not being a member of the Royal House) was to appear on the balcony until he marries. - Why? Because that has been the case for all other unmarried children of the monarch/heir, and the King didn't want to change that (at least, that's what some commentators have said about it).
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As you can see in the quote, this is the part from the commentators.
To be more specific, I think it was the royal author Tor Bomann-Larsen who said it in a TV-interview (very serious guy BTW).
Wibecke Lie, former royal reporter at NTB (Norwegian News Agency) said something similar, if I remember correctly.
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Thank you for explaining this. :flowers: As people abroad have debated about the reasons Sverre Magnus was not given the HRH (and even about elevating him when Haakon ascends the throne), I had assumed there were no official answers. They and I undoubtedly did not see the interviews.

If anyone has the interviews, I would appreciate it.


ROYAL NORWAY said:
Well, they would never have told him that he's not allowed out on the balcony.

They only had two choices:
1. Tell him that he has to stand there (they did).
2. Tell him that he could decide himself.
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ROYAL NORWAY said:
1. To receive state funding (apanage), he has to be a member of the Royal House. - So no, he won't.
2. Well, I think we must assume that he won't perform any royal duties at all. - Why?

Märtha: She carries out some few public duties on behalf of the King in areas concerning persons with disabilities. She is also active as patron of eight organisations, and as Chair of Princess Märtha Louise's Fund. - But as I wrote in post 579, she is (since her marriage) not a Royal Highness, her birthday are not an official flag day, she's not longer on the balcony on May 17th, she does not receive any apanage from the state, and she pays taxes.

Sverre: Unlike Märtha, he has never been a member of the Royal House, and is not likely to accept any patronages when he turns 18 (age of legal majority in Norway).
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Prince Sverre Magnus's yearly appearances on the balcony surprise me because they suggest he will have a more prominent role than the princesses who are not allowed on the balcony. It would be fairer to put him in a similar position to his aunt and great-aunt at least once he marries, and I hope you are proven right.



ROYAL NORWAY said:
Why did the King (in consultation with Haakon) decide that Sverre should not be a member of the Royal House? Well, in addition to the stuff mentioned above, the King also had another thing in mind:

VG article from 2005: Kongen bryter norske tradisjoner - VG

The King's reason for not giving the new prince the title Royal Highness is because the Norwegian Royal House, since 1905, has traditionally consisted of few members, and the King wishes to continue this tradition.

"The King believes that this will also give the new prince greater freedom to choose his own future, e.g. by career choice," says information manager Astrid Versto of NTB.
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With ''few members,'' they mean the monarch/consort, the heir/wife, and the eldest child of the heir.
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I didn't know whether Ms. Versto meant that Sverre Magnus would have the freedom to choose between a career and full-time public duties, or that Sverre Magnus was bound to work at a career and would have the freedom to choose his job. What do you think was meant?

Further, if Prince Sverre Magnus marries a non-royal woman with the consent of the King and has children who are in the line of succession, what role do you imagine his wife and children would have? Would the wife be a princess, would she give up her career once she marries, and would she perform public duties? Would the children be princesses/princes, would they have professional careers, and would they be offered patronages?


ROYAL NORWAY said:
The only non-Royal House member with a prominent role is Princess Astrid.

Why is she more prominent? Because from the death of CP Märtha (her mother) in 1954 until the wedding between CP Harald and Sonja Haraldsen in 1968, Princess Astrid was Norway's First lady (despite not being a member of the Royal House after her wedding in 1961).
If Princess Ragnhild (Astrid's older sister) had continued to live in Norway after her wedding in 1953, she would have taken that role instead her younger sister.

In which way are she more prominent? Well, in her years as First lady, she was in many ways, her grandfather and father's consort, while representing Norway and the Royal Family at home and abroad.

After she ceased to be First lady in 1968, she continued to represent her father and brother, and performed several royal duties in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s until her health began to decline early in the 2000s.
But she is still (despite her frailness) quite active for her 12 patronages, and continues to represent the King each year.
And unlike Märtha (who only participates in gala dinners for foreign royals), Princess Astrid attends all gala dinners.

In 2002 (when she turned 70) the Government granted the Princess an honorary pension (which she has to pay income tax on) in recognition of all her efforts on behalf of Norway both during and following her years as First Lady.
She was registered with an income of over one million (NOK), and a fortune worth over 40 million (NOK) in 2015 and 2016.
She also has a lady-in-waiting and a secretary (paid for by the court), and disposes a chauffeur-driven car.
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Thanks! I have learned a great deal about Princess Astrid from you. But I'm puzzled with regard to the source of her income and fortune, given that she did not receive state funding.
 
:previous: I know you've wanted my thoughts on this for a LONG time, so here we go:

And to those who don't understand any of this? Well, this was originally discussed in the ''May 17th'' thread, so Tatiana Maria's quotes from my posts are from there.

Tatiana Maria said:
Thank you for explaining this. :flowers: As people abroad have debated about the reasons Sverre Magnus was not given the HRH (and even about elevating him when Haakon ascends the throne), I had assumed there were no official answers. They and I undoubtedly did not see the interviews.

If anyone has the interviews, I would appreciate it.
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You're very welcome! :flowers:

I think the TV-interview with Haakon was done in connection with Sverre's birth, while the interview with Märtha was done in connection with her wedding in 2002, or when she started her ''Angel School'' in 2007.
Both these interviews were available on NRK's old NETT-TV, until it was replaced with a newer version in 2012.
But Märtha has also talked about why she lost her position as a member of the Royal House in other interviews with Newspapers/Magazines, which I think will still be available online. - And if I get over them, I will send them to you.

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Tatiana Maria said:
Prince Sverre Magnus's yearly appearances on the balcony surprise me because they suggest he will have a more prominent role than the princesses who are not allowed on the balcony. It would be fairer to put him in a similar position to his aunt and great-aunt at least once he marries, and I hope you are proven right.
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1. But as I wrote in post 579 in the ''May 17th'' thread, Ragnhild, Astrid, and Märtha was on the balcony until they married and then ceased to be members of the Royal House.
2. Sverre: Despite not being a member of the Royal House, he is (like his aunt and grand-aunts) a child of the heir/monarch, and will therefore stand on the balcony until he marries.
3. If the King and the CP couple had wanted him to have a more prominent role than the princesses, then he would have been a member of the Royal House with the style of Royal Highness from when he was born.

--------------------

Tatiana Maria said:
I didn't know whether Ms. Versto meant that Sverre Magnus would have the freedom to choose between a career and full-time public duties, or that Sverre Magnus was bound to work at a career and would have the freedom to choose his job. What do you think was meant?
Click to expand...
That the King (supported by the CP couple) thought it would give him greater freedom to choose his own future/career if he was not born as a member of the Royal House, especially since he will have to earn his own money, and would have lost his status as a Royal House member once he was married, anyway.

--------------------

Tatiana Maria said:
Further, if Prince Sverre Magnus marries a non-royal woman with the consent of the King and has children who are in the line of succession, what role do you imagine his wife and children would have? Would the wife be a princess, would she give up her career once she marries, and would she perform public duties? Would the children be princesses/princes, would they have professional careers, and would they be offered patronages?
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Would Sverre's wife be a princess? That is up to the monarch, but I don't think so. - Why? Most Norwegians (politicians, commentators, experts and myself included) are VERY keen on gender equality, and the criticism will therefore be ENORMOUS if Sverre's wife became a princess, while Erling Lorentzen, Johan Martin Ferner & Ari Behn didn't become princes.
The headlines will be something like this: ''The spouses of male non-Royal House members receives titles, while the spouses of female non-Royal House members does not. - Gender equality anyone?''

Would she give up her career once she marries? No, she won't (I will actually go so far as to say that I'm 100% sure about that). - Why? Well, because that woman will marry a prince who is not a member of the Royal House, and he will most likely have a career of his own. Their alternative is to live of a trust-fund, but the NRF isn't that rich, so that would be quite difficult.
Would she perform public duties? No, she won't (I will say that I'm 100% sure about that too). - Why? Same as above.

Would their children be princesses/princes? No, they won't (I will say that I'm 200% sure about that). - Why? Because their parents would not be members of the Royal House, not that they had received any titles, anyway (this is not Denmark or Sweden).
Would their children have professional careers? Yes, they would (I will say that I'm 200% sure about that too). - Why? Well, they will need something to live of.
Would their children be offered patronages? No way (and I couldn't be more sure). - Why? Because (as the children of Ragnhild, Astrid, and Märtha) they won't have any titles, or official functions at all.

--------------------

Tatiana Maria said:
Thanks! I have learned a great deal about Princess Astrid from you. But I'm puzzled with regard to the source of her income and fortune, given that she did not receive state funding.
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You're welcome!

Well, the numbers come from Norway's official tax lists.

Her income: The honorary pension was at 396.000 NOK in 2002, likely to be much higher now. The rest of her income comes from investments, funds, etc.

Her fortune: As I wrote in the ''May 17th'' thread, she was registered with a fortune worth over 40 millions NOK in 2015 and 2016.
This was down from 2007, when she was registered with 68,7 millions NOK.
Bad investments? Well, I doubt it. - She had probably just transferred some assets/money to her children/grandchildren.

P.S: Be aware that these numbers don't necessarily reflect reality. Published incomes are almost always far less than actual income, because they're adjusted for deductions, while net worth figures are also much less than actual net worth. That's because they also reflect assessed tax valuations of real estate, for example, not market value, and many other assets are depreciated.
Which means that this princess of ours is probably worth even more.

Where does her wealth come from? Well, she inherited a two-digit million amount after her father, King Olav in 1991 (that is what the court would say about it), so we must assume that most of her wealth comes from him. - And perhaps she has been lucky with her investments.
BTW, if some of you wonders: Did Princess Astrid and her late sister had to pay tax on their inheritance? No, the Ministry of Finance decided that they didn't have to pay a penny

--------------------

In other news:

Kjell Arne Totland @TV2KjellArne
ROYALS ON ARCTIC CRUISE #KingHarald & #QueenSonja of #Norway & their entire #family are currently cruising along the coast of #Spitsbergen on board the #royal #yacht #Norge.

Kjell Arne Totland @TV2KjellArne
WILL THEY SEE POLAR BEARS? #KingHarald & #QueenSonja of #Norway & their entire family are currently on a week-long #arctic #cruise around #Spitsbergen on board the #royal #yacht #Norge.

NRK article: Kongefamilien til Svalbard - translation

Blog post from Royal Expert, Kjell Arne Totland: Hele kongefamilien på sommertokt til Svalbard - translation
 
Princess Martha Louise wish to her father for the Father's Day today:

"Happy Father’s Day my wonderful, witty, wise and warm-hearted father. I love you very much. ������"

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqDFQxch6uo/
 
Well, let's go through the royal year of 2019:

The King: Will, despite his frailty (I.e. back/leg problems), continue with a busy programme (both alone and with other members of The RF), which will include The Regent-Couple's annual county-trip, a outward (perhaps also a inward) state visit, a whole bunch of audineces/luncheons, several engagements around the country and the annual events such as The May 17th celebrations, The opening of the Storthing, The galla-dinner for the MPs and The Nobel Peace Prize celebrations.

The Queen: Will most likely continue to form her solo-engagements around stuff such as Norwegian outdoor-life, art and culture.

The Crown Prince: Will continue with a busy programme (both alone and with The Crown Princess), which will include his work for ''Norway’s campaign for a seat on the UN Security Council (1921-1922),'' The CP-Couple's annual county-trip, several engagements around the country and perhaps some trips abroad.

The Crown Princess: Will work to promote Norwegian literature abroad - and participate in engagements based on her day-to-day form.

Princess Märtha Louise: Will continue to work for her patronages - and attend some engagements when she is needed.

Princess Astrid: Will, despite her frailty (I.e. Parkinson's disease and osteoporosis), continue to work for her patronages and attend some engagements, including galla-dinners at the palace.

And last but not least, Princess Ingrid Alexandra will be confirmed in the autumn.

Read more about it in this post (link).
 
Hmm, looks to me that Ingrid is destined to take on considerably higher degree of jobs at an earlier stage than her comparable royal colleagues are.
A matter of necessity, alas.
 
I think so too. Given CP Mette-Marit's illness and the set back that may cause, we may see more from Princess Ingrid Alexandra than planned.

Also this is a good opportunity for Martha Louise to step up to the plate and be more of use to the family. She is great and I certainly would enjoy seeing her more!
 
:previous: If I had been in agreement with you that she is great, yes, I agree! - Although, she is not a member of The Royal House, so that would only be if she was needed or had to step in for CP MM during an engagement. ?

But we talk about a woman here who flies around from one television-studio to another, talking about her angels, her ''high-sensitivity,'' her ''terrible time with the media in her youth'' (I.e. the way they took photos of her, etc) and the criticism she has recived from them during the last years.
And last but not least, Märtha standing in a room learning paying-people to speak with angels, which has angered both MPs in The Storting and bishops, has in fact (at least IMO) made her a burden to her parents and to the institution of The Norwegian monarchy as a whole.
 
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I think that Ingrid must assume more of its responsibility than Martha louise. In the first place, both olav and harald discriminated to Martha, and i think that the problem is of the heir male, in this case of Haakon, and of his machist father the King, to resolve this. I hope that Martha left to the devil by the word the monarchical institution that discriminated it, and to the whole society for treating it of mental imbalances for its beliefs.
 
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