King Olav (1903 - 1991)


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
Tv-coverage of the birthday dinner held for King Olav's 70th birthday in 1973 (by NRK):


King Olav's Birthday Gala

I love to see the arrival of the guests. It's always gorgeous to see how the tiaras sparkle on video :wub:. Sonja's Emeralds are amazing! (This must have been her first yellow dress + Emeralds combination ever ? - she looked gorgeous just a few weeks before giving birth).
Two pictures of her look:
https://1.vgc.no/drpublish/images/article/2016/01/05/23590669/1/big/HISTORISKEBILDER.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7b/25/41/7b25419476c6eb67b6639ce184de1727.jpg
 
Last edited:
Yellow is her favorite !
Picture 2 Princess Margarethe of Denmark with her loop tiara sold by her Son.
 
Continuing the discussion from the Princess Märtha Louise & Family thread, here are links to previous translations and discussions in regard to comments from members of the Royal Family and royal experts about King Olav V's approach to managing the monarchy:


ROYAL NORWAY said:
King Olav V:

[...]

King Olav was a much loved king, but as Hanne Skartveit (the political editor of VG) wrote in the article that I posted in King Harald and Queen Sonja's 80th birthday thread (post 73): Forpliktet for livet - VG+

What the public knew little about at the time, was that he was quite authoritarian and self-willed, temperamental and tough with his daughter in law, the then-Crown Princess Sonja.
Click to expand...

And as I have written in the King Olav thread: He was a very strict, old-fashioned monarch with a bad temper and authoritarian tendencies. He treated his family/staff badly, and had (according to experts/former employees) deserved much more criticism in the 70s and 80s than what he got.

[...]

I've heard/read many stories from interviews with King Harald, Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon, Princess Märtha Louise, Princess Astrid and former employees at the court who worked for him. Here are some of them:

1. According to Haakon, Märtha and former court employees, he was directly unkind to Sonja and yelled at her when she took things up with him.

Queen Sonja has herself told about his bad temper, and the fact she didn't got an office at the Palace until long after she had married. The reason? Because she was a woman.

2. Haakon and Märtha has repeatedly told that he was very strict and often yelled at them. He also became angry when Harald played with the children and accused both his son and Sonja of bad parenting.

3. Former employees have told that he yelled at them for the smallest of things, and that he often yelled at the ministers in Statsråd (Council of State). Nor was he pleased when Gro Harlem Brundtland became prime minister in 1981. Why? Because she was a woman.

[...]
Click to expand...



ROYAL NORWAY said:
Helt konge! Snart feirer kong Harald 25-årsjubileum - TV2.no

[...] ''Together Harald and Sonja has modernized the Norwegian monarchy - and brought it closer to the people. Among other things, the monarchy is far less male and militarily dominated than before. A clear sign of this is that the royal couple in 2015 employed Europe's first female hofmarschall - without military background'', says Totland. [...]
Click to expand...
Click to expand...



ROYAL NORWAY said:
One more of the many articles/comments written on the occasion of the jubilee. This was written by Hanne Skartveit, VG's Political editor:
Sonjas erobring av Norge - Kongehuset - VG

Translated by me:
When Sonja eventually became part of the royal family, after nine years as the Crown Prince's secret lover, she came to something that looked more like a military barrack than a castle. It was then 20 years ago since Olav's wife, Crown Princess Märtha, had died. The royal household had lost its female power. After that the King surrounded himself largely with officers and other tight men.

Sonja became colonel and shoved herself uniformed with soldiers and officers. Quietly, behind the scenes, she must have fought. Literally. King Olav would not even want her to have her own office, but she eventually managed to get the room she needed. A writing desk and a chair, where she could sit in peace and work.

The family business

She has slowly transformed the palace. During her leadership, the palace opened up for a new age. Queen Sonja has simply waged a campaign for gender equality who few have seen and appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
For His 80 th Birthday GD Josephine Charlotte was the only family attendance. No family atendance from Denmark and Belgium
 
^^
The Queen of Denmark was there as well, as well as several other royal cousins from around Europe��
 
Princess Martha and Prince Olav pose for the camera after their wedding, Stockholm, Sweden.

 
Blog Real said:
Princess Martha and Prince Olav pose for the camera after their wedding, Stockholm, Sweden.

Click to expand...
This film was made after the announcement of their engagement not after their wedding. There was a similar film made after the announcement of the engagement of her sister Astrid to Leopold of Belgium.
 
Last edited:
A video on the reign of King Olav V of Norway

 
I think I understood about seven words, but that was wonderful!

Maybe only if you can't understand Norwegian, but there's something particularly funny about his guided tour of the Palace. "That's me in the painting... and that one is also me. And that's me too." :lol:

It's a very interesting glimpse of the royal homes and tours (Tehran! :eek:). And Bygdøy has a lovely garden.
 
About six words this time, and there aren’t any subtitles. https://tv.nrk.no/se?v=FOLA04005969

One of my favorite royals talking about his mother Maud (in a program from 1969!), whom I also find quite fascinating. I wish I knew more of what he said!

The parts where he sees the stuff he drew as a kid are hilarious.

The only time his demeanor really changes is when he talks about being educated. I don’t suppose he mentioned his dyslexia?
 
In more or less the same outfit, where he is conversing with his aunt’s cat. https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/...ncess-Victoria-of-Wales-Olav-V-King-of-Norway

On a more serious note, for a spoiled and much loved only child, his childhood was rather melancholy. He not only struggled to read and write at all but even speak Norwegian properly, and was nervous and isolated (and arrogant, of course), and separated from his mom a lot. I don’t think the temperamental and lonely sides of him ever really went away. https://www.newsinenglish.no/2020/09/16/royals-integration-was-difficult-too/
 
Last edited:
https://www.nrk.no/norge/xl/private-brev-avslorer-kongelig-familiedrama-1.16112861

None of this is exactly surprising, except maybe for how Olav had to go outside Norway to find a priest who would marry Astrid and Mr. Ferner.

Surprisingly there is still nothing here that pinpoints whatever it was that finally let Ragnhild get married, or why the Ferners were allowed to stay in Norway.

We knew Olav was a very lonely guy, both as a kid and after Märtha. Not only did Tore Rem say so in the first volume, Olav himself said it. (7:12)
 
King Olav V of Norway - work and residences:

 
Apparently Churchill can be put in the column of people who did not unquestionably adore (then-Crown Prince) Olav; the King's latest biographer said there seems to be a letter he wrote to his wife at some point fatuously suggesting Hitler could be punished by locking him in a room with Olav for 12 hours a day.

https://www-boktips-no.translate.go...tr_sl=no&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

However, this should be qualified:
- I'm pretty sure it was just Olav's nervous giggling that Churchill couldn't stand, and not Olav being ill-tempered or anything else that might actually put him on par with the nemesis of Europe.
- I'm also reasonably sure even Clementine Churchill, let alone anyone else, would not view being locked up with Winston for 12 hours as a privilege. So a few large grains of salt there.
 
A compilation movie made in connection with the 70th birthday.
 
Although I'm not opposed to Olav living for 18,000 years, I think there might need to be an adjustment in the thread title.
 
I wish he was still here. The "Fashion of Royal Men" thread would be a lot more fun. :cool: (Apparently, he did not yell at Haakon enough.)

Also, that garden at Bygdø is truly lovely.

Fashion? Fence-jumping? What a natural combination. Very much worth clicking on the larger size. https://www.alamy.com/olav-v-image68835113.html
 
Last edited:
Brother in law of our King Leopold III , don't think they met each other , but he came for his Funerals.
 
Last edited:
I know this picture , but to me it was after WW2 and King Leopold second Wedding.
 
maria-olivia said:
I know this picture , but to me it was after WW2 and King Leopold second Wedding.
Click to expand...

The photo almost certainly has to be 1936 due to the very small ages of Princesses Ragnhild and Astrid and no Queen Astrid or Prince Harald.

If you were specifying Olav never met his brother-in-law after WWII, I don't have information at hand about that. Their lives went in very different directions and perhaps they didn't care to remind each other of their painful losses.

Did Leopold go to Crown Princess Märtha's funeral?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

ROYAL NORWAY
Golden Wedding Anniversary of King Harald V and Queen Sonja
2 3
Replies
62
Views
13K
eya
E
soapstar
  • Poll
Best Outfit: 80th Birthday Celebrations of King Harald V & Queen Sonja: May 2017
Replies
14
Views
4K
soapstar
soapstar
ROYAL NORWAY
80th Birthday Celebrations of King Harald V and Queen Sonja
18 19 20
Replies
584
Views
115K
Blog Real
Blog Real
ROYAL NORWAY
King Harald V’s 25th Anniversary/Silver Jubilee: January 2016/June 2016
4 5 6
Replies
175
Views
37K
Tatiana Maria
T
JessRulz
  • Locked
Swedish Official Visit to Norway: June 18-19, 2013
Replies
21
Views
7K
Sarahbellar
Sarahbellar

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom