King Harald and Queen Sonja Current Events, Part 2: February 2015 - December 2020

[ROYAL NORWAY]

Thanks, iceflower! (and there are videos in the articles she posted)

Translated by me: Ja, vi elsker Kongen vår!

Yes, we love our King!

SONGDALEN: Party-dressed people with flags showed up to get a glimpse of and honour our dear King. A delay due to snowfall in eastern Norway, let no silence on the mood.

"Maybe the King will come to Porsmyr today. We have been waiting very long on our dear Kingfather."

So they sang. Sunniva Føreland, Maria Gabrielsen, Ingrid Fanebust, Helene Sandvik, Sunniva Lavik and Nathalie Jahnsen, all of whom are students in 8th grade at Oasen school, had made the song themselves.

One would almost think they had a kind of built-in sixth sense, for waiting it was. One and a half hours later than planned, the royal card swung into Porsmyr where it stopped in front of the main house. Mayor Johnny Greibesland welcomed the king, Rina-Liora Niyo gave him flowers and Sander Haakon Hauge Hansen handed over a book to the King. Then the leader of Porsmyr's friends Berit Undis Mølland and chairman of Porsmyr's friends Oddbjørn Follerås took over the responsibility to give the King a guided tour.

It was cold, but the sun was shining from an almost cloudy sky, and it was almost May 17th atmosphere in the air when King Harald came out from the Sete House to cheers and children who sang National anthem.

"I've seen the king once before. In Oslo in 2014'', Rukaia Ghazi told, also a pupil at Oasen School. Her friends Marie Skotte, Mahoor Bokaei and Tuva Monge, all sixth grade on the Oasis, had only seen the King on television.

In the Haugen park, record many people had showed up to see the entertainment from the scene and perhaps also get a glimpse of the King. Among them, we encountered Kevin and Julian from Eventyrheia kindergarten. They had made Norwegian flag with a picture of the King and Queen on the backside.

"We have had a good visit to the café Leons Hjerterom today, Selma Johansen could tell. Many had to warm themselves while waiting for his Majesty to come. Also, Greipstad church house was opened for the children at Rosseland School, and the fertilizer cellar at Porsmyr for the youngest at Oasen School Birkelid.

The last stop was Noden, where His Majesty the King was cutting the ribbon into the new to building who will house the youth club. The visit was much shorter than planned, because the king had to go to Vennesla.

 

[iceflower]

.

On May 8 King Harald attended the Liberation Day and National Veterans Day at Akershus Fortress:


** Pic ** kongehuset.no: Kongen delte ut Krigskorset ** translation **

 

[iceflower]

.

Queen Sonja opened the new cable car Loen Skylift in Stryn today, May 20:


** Pic 1 ** Pic 2 **


** nrk.no article and gallery: No er Loen Skylift offisielt opna ** translation **

 

[iceflower]

.

King Harald received the Abel Prize Laureate for an audience at the Royal Palace this morning and later handed out the Abel Prize 2017 at the University Hall in Oslo.

French Yves Meyer received the prize for his work on "wavelets, a mathematical theory with applications in data compression, medical imaging and the detection of gravitational waves":


** kongehuset.no: Abelprisen til fransk matematiker ** translation **

 

[iceflower]

.

King Harald and Queen Sonja attended the opening of the 65th Bergen International Festival today, May 24, Queen Sonja held the opening speech:


** fb gallery ** nrk.no videos ** kongehuset.no: Dronningen årets Festspilltaler ** translation **

 

[cepe]

Court Circular 25th May

The Earl of Lytton (Deputy Lieutenant of West Sussex) was present at Gatwick Airport, London, this morning upon the Arrival of The King of Norway and welcomed His Majesty on behalf of The Queen.


HMQ always has someone meet Head of State when visiting UK, even when not on State visit.

 

[iceflower]

King Harald was in London to attend the 50th anniversary of the Atlantic Salmon Trust.



Meanwhile Queen Sonja attended the opening of the 2017 Bergen International Festival Exhibition yesterday, May 25:


** kongehuset.no: Festspillutstillingen 2017 ** translation **

 

[iceflower]

.

Today, June 3, King Harald attend the centenary of Lions International and set sail with representatives of Lions and children from child welfare institutions from Lohavn pier to Bygdøynes:



** kongehuset.no: Seilas for barnevernsbarn ** translation **

 

[iceflower]

.

On June 6 King Harald presented the King Olav Kong Olav V's Cancer Research Award 2017 at the University of Oslo and in the evening of that day he attended the bicentenary celebration of the National Archives of Norway:



** kongehuset.no: Kong Olav Vs kreftforskningspris 2017 ** translation **


** kongehuset.no: Riksarkivet 200 år ** translation **

 

[iceflower]

.

Queen Sonja attended the opening of the Momentum Biennial 2017 in Moss this afternoon, June 17:


** kongehuset.no: Dronningen på nordisk kunstbiennale ** translation **

 

[iceflower]

.

Today, June 19, King Harald attended the launch of an international initiative for the climate and preservation of the rainforest at the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo:



** kongehuset.no: Initiativ for å redde regnskogen ** translation **

 

[iceflower]

.

Yesterday, June 22, King Harald attended an event commemorating the Yugoslav prisoners of war in Nordland.


** kongehuset.no: Minnet jugoslaviske krigsfanger ** translation **

 

[iceflower]

.

Queen Sonja opened the Riddu Riđđu Festival 2017 in Manndalen, Kåfjord, today, July 13:


** Pic 1 ** Pic 2 ** Pic 3 **


** nrk.no: Riddu fikk ros av Dronning Sonja ** translation **


** nrk.no: Dronning Sonja: - Riddu Riđđu har åpnet det samiske samfunnet for resten av verden ** translation **

 

[iceflower]

.

Queen Sonja visited the KaviarFactory and the exhibition PAINTING OR NOT in Henningsvær today, July 15:


** nrk.no: Trosset været for kunsten ** translation **


** kongehuset.no: Skulpturlandskap Nordland 25 år ** translation **

 

[iceflower]

.

King Harald attended the opening ceremony of King Harald's World Gym for Life Challenge at the Oslofjord Convention Center in Brunstad this afternoon, July 26:



** royalcourt.no: Gymnastics meet in the name of the King **

 

[ROYAL NORWAY]

More pictures from today:

His Majesty arrives:
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His Majesty is welcomed by Tom Tvedt: (President of The Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports)
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His Majesty inside the opening ceremony:
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His Majesty leaves:
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[ROYAL NORWAY]

Kongen fikk trebåtfestivalens hederspris - I Risør

Summary of the article: There were plenty with people on the square when the The King received the Risør Wooden Boat Festival Honorary Award for 2017 in Risør yesterday. His Majesty was met by applause when he arrived in sailing clothes.

Pictures:
http://www.irisor.no/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/kongharald-2-of-2-1200x640.jpg

http://www.irisor.no/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/kongharald2-1-of-2.jpg

The King now lives on board the royal yacht and has participated in several sailing regattas. He has been in Risør since Wednesday.

Norway's summer school holiday is from late June to mid August, and the royal family follows that pattern. The King and Queen have been on summer holiday around the country since the birthday celebrations on July 4th (although they have had some engagements) and the King will be back on duty on August 11th. There have been several local articles about it, but I haven't had time to post summaries of them here.

 

[M. Payton]

So very nice to see my favorite king out enjoying himself. He looks so good now, rested and relaxed. And very nice to see the large crowds out to welcome him, this is surely one loved king by the people.

 

[eya]

Queen Sonja opens last night the Oslo Jazzfestival

http://www.kongehuset.no/aim/kongeh...e1084eb47f4f39b5b9cdc131ca585990089783416.jpg
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXukGfIlX0Z/?taken-by=frontrowportraits
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXuZUAchVt3/?taken-by=matijapu

 

[ROYAL NORWAY]

The Queen was present at the vocal masterclass given to semi-finalists of the Queen Sonja International Music Competition at Oscarshall today:

Pictures from Scanpix:
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[eya]

The King compete at the World Cup in sailing for 8mr with the "Sira"

https://www.instagram.com/p/BX465C7FbDI/?taken-by=detnorskekongehus
https://www.instagram.com/p/BX4_R3cFvtc/?taken-by=detnorskekongehus


and Princess Martha Louise posted at her instagram proud for her dad!!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXp4p-7FhI8/?taken-by=martha_louise123
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXseNQ3lFy3/?taken-by=martha_louise123
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXxt7HQFA2Y/?taken-by=martha_louise123
https://www.instagram.com/p/BX2Og6IlLyj/?taken-by=martha_louise123
https://www.instagram.com/p/BX2QOLVliJ6/?taken-by=martha_louise123
https://www.instagram.com/p/BX5E23TlHiG/?taken-by=martha_louise123

The Queen also has two engagements today: She granted representatives from the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet an audience earlier today and will attend a concert and reception hosted by the Queen Sonja International Music Competition at Oscarshall (17:00).

Pics

Klassiske perler på Oscarshall - kongehuset.no

Queen Sonja arrives at the opera to attend the evening's final in Queen Sonja International Music Competition.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BX8V03wHUQm/?taken-by=queen_sonja_music_competition
https://www.instagram.com/p/BX8bPNBlTal/?taken-by=detnorskekongehus
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[sm1939]

gosh the King and Queen are so busy , compare to the crown prince and princess ......they are always doing something visiting places or opening new sites

 

[ROYAL NORWAY]

The King compete at the World Cup in sailing for 8mr with the "Sira"

https://www.instagram.com/p/BX465C7FbDI/?taken-by=detnorskekongehus
https://www.instagram.com/p/BX4_R3cFvtc/?taken-by=detnorskekongehus


and Princess Martha Louise posted at her instagram proud for her dad!!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXp4p-7FhI8/?taken-by=martha_louise123
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXseNQ3lFy3/?taken-by=martha_louise123
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXxt7HQFA2Y/?taken-by=martha_louise123
https://www.instagram.com/p/BX2Og6IlLyj/?taken-by=martha_louise123
https://www.instagram.com/p/BX2QOLVliJ6/?taken-by=martha_louise123
https://www.instagram.com/p/BX5E23TlHiG/?taken-by=martha_louise123

Article from yesterday - read more:
King Harald attends the World Championship in sailing – Royal Central

The World Championship in sailing started Tuesday and will last five days; the last sailing will happen on Saturday. Perhaps the most prominent athlete competing for the championship title is King Harald V of Norway. The King arrived in Østfold in Norway, where the tournament takes place, on Monday. There are 28 boats registered to start. Next to King Harald in “Sira,” there are also five other Norwegian vessels.

gosh the King and Queen are so busy , compare to the crown prince and princess ......they are always doing something visiting places or opening new sites

1. The CP couple certainly have their faults, and they are nearly as active as Harald/Sonja were when they were the CP couple.

2. Why? Because they want to be there for their children.

3. But Haakon (and to a lesser extent Mette-Marit) has several engagements each year, and the King said this in a interview with NTB earlier this year:
No pause for breath for the royal couple who've reached the grand age of 80 - Norway Today

The king said the crown prince occasionally offers to take over some assignments.

King Harald said, ’But I seldom accept the offer, I should emphasise!’

In other news - from NRK:
https://www.nrk.no/buskerud/1.13646128
Queen Sonja comes to Drammen to walk with a group of immigrant women in the woods on Thursday, August 24th. The background for the visit is DNT Drammen's (The Norwegian Trekking Association in Drammen's) work on trips for multicultural people - picture from NRK:
https://gfx.nrk.no/tlv4mwmmP2N8bm3cxr7vzAZHAAlfYVNbi7LQOvTwun6Q

The Queen also has two engagements today: She granted representatives from the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet an audience earlier today and will attend a concert and reception hosted by the Queen Sonja International Music Competition at Oscarshall (17:00).

 

[ROYAL NORWAY]

From NTB (the Norwegian News Agency) for TV2 and other news sites - summary by me:
Kong Harald besøker amerikanske elitesoldater

"The King will visit the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Norfolk by invitation," says the palace's Deputy Communications Manager Sven Gj. Gjeruldsen to NTB. The visit to the state of Virginia takes place on Wednesday, August 23th.

Next Friday, August 25th, the King will visit the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM).

Other details of the visit have not been announced, but Haakon is (acording to the royal house's program) regent until at least September 1th.

 

[ROYAL NORWAY]

The Queen attended the finale of the Queen Sonja International Music Competition at the Oslo Opera House yesterday evening:
South Korean tenor won Queen Sonja's music competition - Norway Today

Pictures from Scanpix:
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The finale was sent live on NRK - watch it here:

Part 1:
https://tv.nrk.no/serie/dronning-sonja-internasjonale-musikkonkurranse-tv/MKTV18000117/18-08-2017

Part 2 - HM shows Hans Olav Brenner (the NRK journalist/presenter) around at Oscarshall at 07:20 and presents the diplomas to the winners at 01:11:30:
https://tv.nrk.no/serie/dronning-sonja-internasjonale-musikkonkurranse-tv/MKTV18000217/18-08-2017

More about the King's visit to the US:

Read more: (The NTB article I wrote a summary of yesterday - now translated by Norway Today)
King Harald touring the US next week - Norway Today

– His Majesty the King will visit NATO’s headquarters in Norfolk by invitation, Deputy Communications Manager Sven Gj. Gjeruldsen at the Royal Court tells NTB.

The visit to NATO’s headquarters in the state of Virginia will take place on Wednesday, 23 August. Next Friday, August 25, King Harald will visit the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM), which is one of the nine common main commands of the US Department of Defense. The command is responsible for, inter alia, US special forces and headquartered at the MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.

Read more: King Harald of Norway to visit the United States – Royal Central

His Majesty King Harald V of Norway will make a visit to the United States next week. The visit will, among other things, mean that the King performs official visits in both Florida and in Virginia. It is uncertain how long King Harald will be in the United States, but the visit will last for at least three or four days.

The visit to Virgina will take place on Wednesday, while the visit to Florida will take place Friday, next week. The King will travel alone, no other members of the royal family will join him.

 

[polyesco]

The King out sailing
Dramatisk finaledag i seile-VM - kongehuset.no
"His Majesty King and the crew at "Sira" ended up in 5th place in his class, and 6th place in total, during the World Cup in sailing for 8 meters at Hankø in Østfold."

 

[ROYAL NORWAY]

Thanks polyesco!

As stated in the royal house article and several other news sites in Norway: The mast of "Sira" (Kong Olav's old boat) broke during the last voyage. The mast-haveri sent the King and crew down on the results list, but no people were injured.

His Majesty was not on board during the sailing on Saturday.

A translated quote from Kjell Arne Totland's long blog post about the King and sailing:
Seilerkongen slår til igjen… | Kongebloggen - Kjell Arne Totland

A few years ago, I read in a local newspaper about an episode that really shows how sporty our now 80 year old king is:

A former bodyguard in the The Royal Police Escort, who is also an active sailor - who was to attend a local regatta here at home, was told the day before that the skipper had become ill.

Gode råd var dyre (an expression in Norway - in english: good advice came costly) - and the desperate police officer contacted the King's equerry. And King Harald, who then vacated on Mågerø, stepped in for one day!

Helt konge (Totally King), if you ask me ...

And yes - such kings will the old Norway have!

In other news: NRK1 sent a program on saturday about the 25th anniversary of Artscape Nordland and its patron Queen Sonja:
https://tv.nrk.no/program/DNNO52000117/dronning-i-verdens-stoerste-skulpturpark

 

[wartenberg7]

The Queen is such a beautiful person!

 

[Tatiana Maria]

1. The CP couple certainly have their faults, and they are nearly as active as Harald/Sonja were when they were the CP couple.

2. Why? Because they want to be there for their children.

3. But Haakon (and to a lesser extent Mette-Marit) has several engagements each year, and the King said this in a interview with NTB earlier this year:
No pause for breath for the royal couple who've reached the grand age of 80 - Norway Today

The king said the crown prince occasionally offers to take over some assignments.

King Harald said, ’But I seldom accept the offer, I should emphasise!’

That is interesting, Royal Norway. I wonder whether there will be sufficient assignments to employ both couples and Princess Ingrid Alexandra when the crown princely couple's children are mature. King Harald and Queen Sonja's children were in their teens when their grandfather passed away.

 

[ROYAL NORWAY]

That is interesting, Royal Norway. I wonder whether there will be sufficient assignments to employ both couples and Princess Ingrid Alexandra when the crown princely couple's children are mature. King Harald and Queen Sonja's children were in their teens when their grandfather passed away.

Yes, that's interesting! I've been in meetings the whole day, so my brain is a bit slow, but do you mean having both the King/Queen, Haakon/Mette-Marit and Ingrid as active members of the monarchy?

Ingrid turn 18 in 2022 (the same year as the King turn 85), and I'm pretty sure that she's going to take an education of some sort.

And with the King already being quite frail, I don't see that as likely.


In other news: NTB Scanpix doesn't put the pictures of day to day royal engagements in one link, as they do for big celebrations such as Royal Weddings/birthdays and Jubilees. Therefore I tried again to use the search engine at Scanpix and searched for Dronning Sonja på skogtur (Queen Sonja in the woods) and posted it out as a link, but since you must have an subscription (as I have) to see the latest pictures, then it's not possible for posters here without an NTB account to wiev them. And that means I have to spend time posting each and each photo, so you can see them:

The amazingly fit 80-year-old Queen Sonja was in Drammen to walk in the woods with multicultural women and the Norwegian Trekking Association today - 43 pictures from NTB Scanpix:
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And of course after using time doing that, I found a gallery of 34 photos from Getty Images:
Pictures and Photos | Getty Images

Article:
https://www.nrk.no/buskerud/sadia-tok-med-dronningen-pa-skogstur-1.13656614

Getting a visit from the Queen is not exactly what you get everyday. It is important that the Queen notices DNT Drammen (Norwegian Trekking Association in Drammen's) work, says Aslam.

'' When the Queen comes, we see that our fine job is being seen. That gives very much energy to the others as well.''

The Queen herself had a great time with the multicultural women.

"It's incredibly fun to see how many people with multicultural backgrounds that are here and who are having the pleasure of walking in the woods. I'm impressed with what the women have done and does, said the Queen.

The Queen was also spoiled with good food from different countries.

"There was a lot of love in the food, so thank you, thank you. It's very nice to talk to you. I have had a wonderful nice experience today, said the Queen to the tour group''.

Simon Torgersen, leader of DNT in Drammen, was both nervous and proud during the Queen's visit.

My already great admiration for Queen Sonja has become even greater after her 80th birthday on July 4th, especially after seeing her warmth and kindness in documentaries where she hugs construction workers at the Art Stable etc.