Royal Norway, could you recommend any more articles as regards the issue of Queen Sonja's (and King Harald's) modernization of the monarchy?
I've posted and translated many articles in the 80th birthday thread and wrote about it in my three post about the monarchy's popularity in posts 116,117 and 118 in the ''Republic Monarchy'' thread.
And as you know, I can't translate entire articles anymore due to forums rules, but I can of course send you a PM with Norwegian articles? And you can use, yes, the very poor internet translations, but some of it will be readable.
Here's a brief explanation from me: The King and Queen took over from an old-fashioned, strict, difficult and authoritarian monarch and spent many years modernizing the monarchy. King Harald has chosen an more open line in terms of speeches, the court's economy, media management and employments of female staffers in the court etc.
And here's an article from NTB translated by Norway Today about Queen Sonja and how she has formed her role as Queen Consort, written on the occasion of her 80th birthday:
http://norwaytoday.info/news/norway-congratulates-queen-sonja/
I wonder by whom the invitation was issued and about the reason for the discretion.
The invitation for the visit to NATO’s headquarters in Norfolk was issued by NATO while the invitation for the vist to the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) in Tampa was issued by the United States Armed Forces. Both invitations were of course issued in cooperation with the Norwegian government.
The official visit was first made public 5 days before the visit, according to the Royal Court because the program for the trip had not been completed before.
The coverage: We only got a video from NATO and some pictures from the the palace because the court didn't had any time to plan for a media-accreditation plan, so therefore, no journalists were allowed to follow the king on his 3 engagements in the US.