Harald and Sonja
Crown Prince Harald first met Miss Sonja Haraldsen at a party hosted by a mutual friend in June 1959. Miss Haraldsen had stayed away from all social gatherings after her father died suddenly in early March 1959, and this was the first time after he died she went to a party. When the Crown Prince graduated from the Military Academy in August 1959, he invited her as his date for the graduation ball, and two photographs of them together were taken. From then on, Miss Haraldsen was a “public secret”, and had to learn to live with journalists and photographs that would go to any lengths to get pictures of her.
King Olav wanted Harald to marry a Princess of royal blood, it was feared that the marriage of the Crown Prince and commoner would be very controversial. Because of this opposition to Sonja’s non-royal status, Harald and Sonja had been dating for nine years. Eventually, Harald made it clear to his father that he would not marry anyone else, if he weren’t permitted to marry Sonja. This would in effect put an end to the rule of his family and most likely monarchy in Norway as he was the sole heir.
In 1968, King Olav announced the couple's engagement.
The decision to be taken by the King was not only a family matter, but also an affair of state that could have implications for the future of the monarchy.
A very heated political debate took place in the Kingdom as many argued about the future of the monarchy and the effect marriage to a commoner would have, but the couple was given a warm reception by the Norwegian people, who immediately accepted Miss Haraldsen as their next Crown Princess.
The wedding was held in Oslo Cathedral on 29 August 1968. The newlyweds were received with great jubilation by people throughout the country. They had more causes for celebrations, when in 1971 the first child of the couple, Princess Märtha Louise, followed by the heir, Crown Prince Haakon in 1973.
Following the wedding, Sonja started carrying out her share of official duties on her own. She has travelled extensively in Norway and abroad in her capacity as Crown Princess and, later, as Queen.
In 1988 Sonja established the Queen Sonja International Music Competition. It was originally for pianists, but in 1995 the competition became only for singers. Queen Sonja’s School Award was established in 2006 and is awarded to schools who have "demonstrated excellence in its efforts to promote inclusion and equality".
An avid sailor, Harald represented Norway in the yachting events in the Olympic games several times during his Crown Prince years, and carried the Norwegian flag at the opening parade of the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. With his sailing crew he won World Championship bronze, silver and gold medals, in 1988, 1982, and 1987, respectively.
King Olav V was not only a respected Sovereign; he was truly loved and seen as an unifying symbol of Norway. When he died in 1994, the whole country mourned him. Crown Prince Harald became King Harald V and Queen Sonja became Norway’s first Queen in 53 years. The Ceremony of coronation was seen as a strictly national event. King Harald V was dressed in full uniform of Army General, Queen Sonja was in a white dress, embellished with pearls. Instead of a tiara and in accordance with the simplicity of the ceremony, Queen Sonja wore not a tiara but a
“kokoshnik
”, as did Princess Martha, also dressed in white. The Norwegian Crown Jewels were also in the altar, although were not used in the ceremony.
The new King and Queen managed to bring the Royal Family closer to the people. Harald and Sonja have made numerous visits in Norway and everywhere they went, large crowds gathered to greet them. Their Majesties have made numerous State Visits throughout the world.
The King and the Queen devote a great deal of time to visiting disadvantaged groups as well as social institutions for children, the elderly and persons suffering from mental disabilities.
The Queen is also concerned with conditions for refugees and immigrants. She has taken active part in large-scale initiatives to raise funds for international refugees, and spent time in the 1970s visiting Vietnamese boat refugees in Malaysia, among others.
There is a remarkably good relationship between the Norwegian Royal Family and the other European Royal Families, powerfully exposed during the celebrations of the sovereigns’ Silver Jubilee and 60th birthdays, as well as at the wedding of Crown Prince Haakon with Miss Mette-Marit.
The King remains highly respected in Norway, and will, without doubt, find a place in the future, similar to the one his father had, in the hearts of the Norwegians. As for Queen Sonja, she is arguably one of the most beloved Queens Norway ever had.
Henrik and Margrethe
In 1996 Prince Henrik published his autobiography in French, Destin Oblige, which was translated into Danish. In that biography he mentions his first meeting with his wife, back in 1965. He was attending a dinner party hosted by some friends. He had been informed that the Danish heir to the throne would be present, and therefore anticipated that the evening would be fairly dull. Henri therefore vowed that he would try to leave as soon as he could, to avoid the boredom. At dinner he was seated next to the "dull" heiress, and discovered that she wasn't dull at all. Quite the opposite.
Henri and Margrethe would have several meetings in the time that followed - outings with mutual friends, outings on their own, in the restaurants and nightclubs of London. Eventually they discovered that the attraction between them had matured into love. Henri mentions that it was easy for him to think about a Frenchman in London being in love with a Danish girl. He found it much more difficult to imagine what made the heir to the Danish throne fall in love with him. Henri agonized over making the right choice in terms of marriage. He wondered if the heir to the throne could truly follow her own heart in terms of picking who she wanted to marry, and would he be accepted by the Danes? He did not want to be the cause of Margrethe's abdication.
He eventually proposed at a St. John's Eve celebration in Denmark , and the answer was positive. The official engagement came in October 1966 and they were married in June 1967. Henri Laborde de Monpezat became Prince Henrik of Denmark.
Henrik chose to give his wedding speech in Danish. He has later acknowledged that this was one of his worst ideas, as it aired on television, and he wasn't very familiar with the pronunciation of the language at the time. Learning to speak Danish was a process that took many year, and was made more difficult by the fact that he spoke French at home with his wife and later with his children. He spoke French with them, to give them the ability to be bilingual - with the consequence that his own Danish suffered.
In May 1968 the heir to the throne, Prince Frederik was born. A year later, Prince Joachim followed and the family was complete. As his wife was fairly busy, even more so after her father died, it was Prince Henrik who would oversee his sons' upbringing. Prince Joachim mentioned that spending time with his father was a fascinating experience, while Crown Prince Frederik jokingly mentioned in his speech to his parents at their Silver Wedding anniversary that there is an old saying about punishing those we love - and the princes had never doubted the love from their father. Prince Henrik himself mentions that he believes in a firm and guiding, but loving hand, from parents to ensure that the children are guided onto the right path in life.
In 1984, the Danish government acknowledged the part played by Prince Henrik - and gave him his own allowance, separate from his wife's.
The queen is an accomplished and critically-acclaimed painter, and has held many art shows over the years. It is often said that were she not the queen, she could easily make a living as a professional artist.
In 1974 Henrik and Margrethe purchased a rundown castle close to Henrik's parents' winery. Since then they have spent summers there, and Henrik produces wine that is sold all over the world.
They also work together in more intellectual endeavours - in 1981 they translated a book by Simone de Beauvoir from French to Danish together.
As a couple they have lived their lives publicly and it would have been difficult to sustain their own relationship, their family and their duties to Denmark through all these years, had it not been for immense devotion, care and love they have for each other. They have been through some thick and thin together, for example, Margrethe's medical emergency giving birth to Frederik when Henrik feared for her survival, deaths in their families, relentless royal duties, no doubt the normal parental worries about their children. But they went through the good and the bad times with a care and love for each other.
On June 10, 2007 Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik reached a rare milestone, rare not only for Monarch and Consort, but also for ordinary people: they celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary.