Launching of Norway's candidacy:
Well, the procedure in cases like this is that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs contacts the palace and informs them that they want the Crown Prince to launch the candidacy.
CP Haakon and the court will then decide if this is something he wants to get involved with.
And they obviously regarded this as politically neutral enough, so he did it.
Campaigning for Norway's candidacy:
Same as above, if the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants him campaigning, they will inform the palace.
CP Haakon and the court will then decide if this is something he wants to get involved with.
If asked, will he do it? Well, to campaign for Norway’s candidacy for the UN Security Council is a rather ''uncontroversial and politically neutral thing'' to do, so it will most likely be a ''YES'' from the palace.
And anyway, it's much less political than some of the other stuff he's involved with, on his own initiative.
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BTW: If any posters reply to this post, just to tell me that members of the Royal House must do what the government says, then my answer is:
The Norwegian monarchy is in such cases completely independent from the government, and with the exception of state/official visits, they decide for themselves what kind of engagements/causes they will undertake/get involved with.
And if any of you should ask me, how I know that? Well, by watching documentaries and debate-programs such as ''Sentrum'' (airing 1997-2000 on TV2), ''Tabloid'' (airing 2000-2010 on TV2), ''Holmgang'' (airing 1992-2008 on TV2), ''Redaksjon 21'' (airing 1994-2002 on NRK), ''Redaksjon EN'' (airing 2002-2009 on NRK) and ''Standpunkt'' (airing 2002-2007 on NRK), where stuff about royal engagements and so-called royal scandals were discussed several times a year.
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The exception (as I mentioned above in the post) is during state/official visits, when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans the program in consultation with the court.
An exemple was the famous ''horse scandal'' in 1998 (the King's Annus horribilis). - I mentioned this story in a different thread last year, so some of you may have heard it before:
The King gave the wealthy businessman Stein Erik Hagen permission to buy a horse (for 8.1 million Norwegian kroner) to Märtha. When the King later the same year, during a state visit to Latvia, opened a seminar at a newly opened shopping center in Riga, which Hagen owned a large part of, he was heavily criticized in the media.
They meant that the King only opened the seminar to give thanks to Stein Erik Hagen for the gift (the horse).
This proved to be false, and the King later said (in an TV-interview) that it's not him who decides what things he opens during such visits.
Although it must be said that the government of the time, refused to take any responsibility (no surprise there).
Thanks! 
