Sonja and Harald's long courtship

[Meraude]

I admire Sonja for her waiting 9 years to marry the man she loves.She was kinda like the kate middleton of the 60s!

Wouldn't it be the other way round, Kate Middleton was the Sonja Haraldsen of the '00s?

 

[IloveCP]

That could work!

 

[Grandduchess24]

Their love story is so romantic and I believe that Harald was going to marry Sonja no matter what. King orlav didn't approve of the marriage and Harald would've given up his right to the throne and king orlav wouldn't have had an heir but in the end Harald won and he got to marry the woman he loves despite being a commoner. Haakon married a single mother but everything turned out okay and although there was controversy at first but mette marit was accepted eventually as crown princess of Norway.

 

[Tatiana Maria]

In an ongoing series of documentaries about their lives, NRK reported how Olav invited [Sonja] along with other friends to a birthday dinner for his son at the palace and she happily attended. [...] The invitations from the palace stopped when Olav finally became aware that his son was serious about Sonja Haraldsen. [...] Their separations were difficult, and they told NRK they tried to break up on several occasions, but both were miserable.

The press in Norway, meanwhile, kept quiet about the romance, only daring to write a few lines after reports of their relationship had made news in the British and Swedish press. No Norwegian editor wanted to challenge the palace, which remained silent. It wasn’t until 1964 that local newspapers wrote about the “rumours” that had been reported abroad.

The Labour Party government at the time saw constitutional problems with any marriage between Harald and Sonja, and the powerful Labour Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen was firmly opposed to one. He sent out a press release claiming that no question of marriage had crossed his table, a move viewed as a denial of any pending engagement announcement. More years passed and then Crown Prince Harald finally found the courage to tell his father that if he couldn’t marry Sonja Haraldsen, he would be remain unmarried. And that really did put the monarchy at risk. His two sisters were both married to commoners, and it was unclear who would then be heir to the throne after Harald.

[…] It was unusual at that time for a young woman like Sonja Haraldsen to remain unmarried at that age [30], and Harald told NRK he worried he would ruin her life. “We just kept waiting and hoping that they’d all finally back down,” he said. In the meantime, Sonja’s mother Dagny Haraldsen allowed the couple to meet at her home. That was among their only free space.

King Olav finally gave in to the idea but still needed a green light from the government. […] Finally, wrote Dagsavisen editor Arne Strand, [conservative Prime Minister Per] Borten took the easier way out, and said his government would not advise against the marriage. It wouldn’t support it, but it wouldn’t challenge it either. […]

[…] When Harald and Sonja’s own son, the current Crown Prince Haakon, fell in love and wanted to marry a single mother with a history of wild partying behind her, they supported him and King Harald didn’t ask the Stoltenberg government for advice but merely informed it that a wedding loomed.

Royal romance raised a ruckus

 

[ROYAL NORWAY]

Thanks for this post, Tatiana Maria! This very interesting 7 episodes documentary aired on NRK last year.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

https://norwaynorge.com/crown-prince-harald-of-norway-marries-sonja-haraldsen-in-1968
This article stated: After a troubled ten-year-courtship, the current King Harald V of Norway married his Sonja Haraldsen on the 29th of August 1968.

In Post #59 It is stated: They met at a party at Johan Stenersen's home in 1959.
Why is there a contradiction of years? Was it ten or nine years?

 

[Blog Real]

I found information that in 1964/1965, the press was flooded with rumors that Crown Prince Harald would marry Princess Tatiana Radziwill.
I didn't know about these rumors.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iifiP3sY...283_642285389626566_8025629194144710656_n.jpg

https://www.facebook.com/282609485594160/photos/a.283296275525481/642285386293233

 

[Moonmaiden23]

I read the rumor about Harald and Princess Radziwill years ago in Paris Match or Jours de France along with the disturbing addition that Sonja attempted suicide.

After her recovery, Harald married her.

 

[Blog Real]

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