This was discussed in this thread:
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forum...d-queen-sonja-2006-a-37862-5.html#post2140646
But now we have moved into something that fits better here:
That's interesting!
Please remind me, who are these politicians?
If they are republicans/far left wing, it really doesn't matter.
But if they are from the center and right parties it's perhaps more worrying.
At what party-political level are these politicians?
What's the history of these politicians?
Do they have a history of criticizing Haakon?
And what was the reaction from the party political top?
Let me explain:
If it's say a center-right politician, pretty far down the hierarchy (back-bencher) it really doesn't matter. That politician may actually mean what he/she is saying, but is hardly speaking on behalf of the party.
But if the politician has a medium level position within the party, say being the spokesperson in a more heavy political field, like economy or foreign politics. Then he is most likely speaking unofficially on behalf of the party.
If it's even higher up, say deputy party leader or a minister, then the politician
is "unofficially officially" speaking on behalf of the party!
The reaction from the party top is telling as well. If the party top goes out at once an whacks the politician on the head, the statement is not on behalf of the party.
If they don't or it's only a half-hearted whack, the statement is at least finding a lot of sympathy within the party.
Okay, some politicians have a history of speaking out about absolutely everything including the royals. Sometimes that's how they are and sometimes that's their job. They send up trial-balloons, political decoys, start debates and so on. - Sometimes however they are an unofficial "tapping the finger on the table". I.e. it's an unofficial political: "Hey Haakon, listen..."
However, if the politician has a history of criticizing Haakon, it could be because the politician is genuinely worried about Haakon and dislike him and/or the advisors around Haakon. Or he is a raised party-political index finger. - Here it's the party-top's reaction that is telling. (See also paragraph above.)
If the party leaderships whacks him on the head, he is merely annoying, also within the party.
If they don't, it's either because he is speaking on behalf of the party i.e. the party is annoyed at Haakon as well, at least to some extent. Or he is a decoy.
- Isn't politics fun? ?
Again, great questions from you!
And yes, politics is fun (almost as fun as royalty).
Well, Totland & Bomann-Larsen (both monarchists BTW) has not revealed who these politicians are, but we have no reason to doubt what they are saying, since both of them are known to be very serious/reliable.
And NRK's political commentator, Magnus Takvam (don't know whether he is a monarchist or republican); editor and political commentator in the Liberal conservative Newspaper Aftenposten, Harald Stanghelle (republican, but very serious) & political editor in liberal Newspaper Dagens Næringsliv, Kjetil B. Alstadheim (republican, but quite serious) have also mentioned that there are politicians in the Storting and the government who worry about Haakon. - Especially about him being ''too political''.
Why not speak out? Well, out of respect for the King, politicians are generally very careful when it comes to criticizing the CP couple publicly.
At least, that's what Totland & Alstadheim have said.
But there are some notable exceptions, especially when they took the children out of the public school in 2014:
Martin Kolberg: A powerful pro-monarchy MP for the pro-monarchy centre-left Labour Party since 2009.
Spokesman for the party on royal issues from 2013 to 2017.
Leader of the Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs in the Storting from 2013 to 2017.
Prior to that, he was the party's general secretary from 2001 to 2009.
Said that the CP couple's decision was ''a very clear move away from being part of the people, and a step towards the end of the monarchy.''
History of criticizing Haakon/MM before that? No.
Reaction from the party's political top? Well, Labour leader Jonas Gahr Støre didn't like the ''end of the monarchy'' part, so he put Trond Giske (pro-monarchy Labour MP and friend of the CP couple) on the case instead.
Knut Arild Hareide: Pro-monarchy leader of the Pro-monarchy centred Christian Democratic Party.
Said that ''it's a problem that the CP couple chose such an expensive private school that the vast majority of people would never be able to afford.''
History of criticizing Haakon/MM before that? No.
Per Olaf Lundteigen: A highly respected pro-monarchy MP for the pro-monarchy centred Centre Party from 1993 to 1997, and from 2005-present.
Spokesman for the party on royal issues from 2013 to 2017.
Said that the CP couple were ''bad role models.''
History of criticizing Haakon/MM before that? No.
Reaction from the party's political top? Nothing, but pretty sure they were in agreement with him.
Even Erna Solberg (the pro-monarchy prime minister and leader of the pro-monarchy centre-right Conservative Party) & Jonas Gahr Støre (pro-monarchy leader of the Labour Party, and friend of the CP couple) expressed themselves critically about the decision, although they were of course much more careful than the people mentioned above.
And when the CP couple were holidaying on a luxury yacht in 2015 (the co-called ''boat-chandal''), several pro-monarchy MPs were again out in the media and criticized them.
And then we have Per Sandberg: A controversial, populist, republican MP for the pro-monarchy right-winged Progress Party from 1997 to 2017.
Deputy leader of the Party since 2006.
Minister of Fisheries since 2015.
He criticized Haakon for being friends with Labour-politicians, and accused him ''of being left-wing'' in 2014.
He has also accused him of ''being a Labour Party supporter, and for interfering in politics''.
History of criticizing Haakon/MM before that? No.
Reaction from others in the party? Nothing, but pretty sure most of them were in agreement with him.
Yes, he is a republican, but since he is the party's deputy leader, I chose to list him here.
I think I describe Sandberg very well (if I'm allowed to say that) in this post, which was also a response to you BTW:
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forum...he-norwegian-monarch-43060-2.html#post2086547
I agree, the holiday is during the Easter break so it's not a problem - there are a lot of royals taking time off to travel at this time of year; with or without health problems. And scrolling through this thread it does seem that MM has been more active in her engagements lately, especially last month.
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