Death & Funeral of Ari Behn: December 25, 2019/January 3, 2020

[LadyFinn]

Svensk Damtidning: That's how we remember Ari Behn.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6lWTe-FGYn/

 

[Sister Morphine]

The funeral will be televised on NRK1 on Friday from 12:00:

"The family's wish has been that everyone who wants to say a last goodbye with Ari shall have the possibility to do so. I want to remind everyone that it is a family in deep sorrow, and hope people respect that and don't photograph or take video in the church" - the family spokesman.
https://www.nrk.no/norge/nrk-sender-ari-behns-bisettelse-i-trad-med-familiens-onske-1.14841038

I'm not Norwegian, so my opinion about this may not be worth much, but I don't agree with this. He was, ultimately, a private citizen. He wasn't a member of the royal family, he wasn't a politician. His funeral should reflect that. The royal family will no doubt attend to support his three children with M-L, but that doesn't mean it needs to be televised. Show footage of people arriving and departing afterward, but that's it.

Anything to not only respect the Behn family, but to keep M-L's boytoy from making it all about him, and something tells me that's exactly what he's going to do. Keep as many cameras away from that charlatan as possible.

 

[wyevale]

That the ex-husband [a minor author] of a [dynastically] insignificant Princess of Norway should be accorded SO much publicity in death seems utterly extraordinary to me ...

I can see no reason [let alone] justification for it....unless suicide has suddenly become a reason..

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Mr Behn was not "insignificant" in Scandinavia. He was quite popular and well known.

An individual does not necessarily need to be famous in Britain-or America-to be considered important.

And they don't have to come from the British Royal family to be considered signifcant either.

The only justification that is needed is that the family and citizens of Norway demand it.

 

[Osipi]

If having the funeral televised is in accordance with the wishes of the family, then it should be so. A family in mourning is not going to be focused on the the less than desirable opinions the public may have about this. If it comforts the family that so many people wish to share in a final goodbye, that's how it should be.

If the Norwegian royal family has asked that people remember that this is a family in mourning and to respect that and not take photographs, I think the public will honor that. I may be way off base but I don't believe the Norwegian media is in anyways close to being what it is in the UK or elsewhere.

Perhaps even, when looking at it from ML's point of view, having her Durek there with her will be comforting and supportive no matter what the public thinks about the man. This really isn't the time when public opinion plays much into decisions made by those that are deeply affected by this loss.

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

It is remarkable when Mr Behn's funeral will be televised. Princess Ragnhild of Norway, Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom, Prince Friso of the Netherlands, Prince Alexander of Belgium, all examples of funerals with the media on a distance. Now it is Saint Ari. Before and during his marriage he was ridiculed. Things can change fast...

 

[wyevale]

Mr Behn was not "insignificant"

NOT what I said - I said he was a minor author - If a poster from Norway on here cogently argues otherwise, then i'll retract it, until then i'll stand by that opinion, which I have garnered from some research into Mr Behns career.

In any case a televised funeral seems 'de trop' for a private citizen without any role in the life of a nation.

 

[An Ard Ri]

Princess Ragnhild of Norway the daughter and sister of a king had her Funeral Service at the Palace Chapel in Oslo in September 2012,the Princess was laid to rest at Asker Church churchyard.It was a very low profile funeral though the Princess had been out of Norway living in Brazil for many years.

 

[Osipi]

In any case a televised funeral seems 'de trop' for a private citizen without any role in the life of a nation.

I think its more along the lines of the Norwegian people and what Mr. Behn meant to them. This has been shown with the candles and the flowers and the gatherings around Norway remembering Mr. Behn. Its also what the family has decided they want to do and if it gives them a little bit of comfort that so many people join in with them in saying goodbye, its all good.

Michael Jackson was also a private citizen of the United States yet his memorial service was watched by billions of people around the world. What it all boils down to is human interest IMO.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

It is remarkable when Mr Behn's funeral will be televised. Princess Ragnhild of Norway, Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom, Prince Friso of the Netherlands, Prince Alexander of Belgium, all examples of funerals with the media on a distance. Now it is Saint Ari. Before and during his marriage he was ridiculed. Things can change fast...

Point taken, but was it the wish of the respective families of Raghhild, Margaret, Friso and Alexander to have the funerals televised? Was there public interest?

I do agree about how it takes the death of someone before they are truly appreciated. I think it's a shame, but it's not unprecedented.See the Duke of Windsor, circa 1972..I remember how he was hailed from here to eternity then as the quintessential romantic hero before the tide turned again in the 90's.


I suspect that when the Duke of York shuffles off his mortal coil, along with the re-hashing of L'Affair Epstein there will be editorials and newspaper articles extolling his war heroism, youthful good looks, and how underrated and unappreciated he was in life.

It's just fickle human nature.

 

[Tatiana Maria]

Mr Behn was not "insignificant" in Scandinavia. He was quite popular and well known.

An individual does not necessarily need to be famous in Britain-or America-to be considered important.

And they don't have to come from the British Royal family to be considered signifcant either.

The only justification that is needed is that the family and citizens of Norway demand it.

Agreed. The openness shown by the Behn family and the Royal Family in connection with the sad death of their family member are in my eyes a logical result of the familiarity and the sympathy between the citizens and leading persons in the country, including members of the literary scene as well as the Royal Family (of which Ari Behn was a member until less than three years ago, and with which he continued to enjoy a good relationship). These bonds are understandably closer in Norway in comparison to countries with larger populations and/or stronger class divides.

I agree with those who believe that had the family requested a private funeral, the public would have respected their wishes.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

NOT what I said - I said he was a minor author - If a poster from Norway on here cogently argues otherwise, then i'll retract it, until then i'll stand by that opinion, which I have garnered from some research into Mr Behns career.

In any case a televised funeral seems 'de trop' for a private citizen without any role in the life of a nation.

Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston both had what I felt were over the top nationalized funerals. But it was what their fans demanded and what their families wanted and what the networks agreed to.

Again, if it's what the family, the citizenry and the networks have all agreed to, it's their decision to make.

 

[wyevale]

^ Seriously you compare two individuals of World-wide renown, with stellar careers [over decades] with Mr Behn, whose [whatever its merits] best known book sold a mere 100.000 copies, and whose other published work failed to match his 'promise' ?
Mr Jackson and Ms Houston's works sold in millions, and repeatedly so.

I can only feel that Norway's population is gripped by a strange [out of all proportion] grief, analogous to that which possessed the UK in September 1997 ?

Many concluded [in retrospect] that the extraordinary outburst of grief following the death of the late Princess of Wales, was the transposition of mourning, [for privately suffered loss] experienced by many millions of people onto an individual they didn't know, but felt somehow 'close to'

Perhaps this is the explanation for this strange phenomena ?

 

[Moonmaiden23]

I don't care if they sold ZILLIONS. A semi-state funeral covered by all networks with commentary was over the top! The freeways and streets were blocked off! They sold records, they did not engineer world peace or cure cancer.

I felt the same way when people were jumping out of the windows in NYC when John Lennon was murdered.

I personally feel Ari should have a private family funeral, but I was not consulted so I don't get a vote.

 

[wartenberg7]

love? it is highly distasteful to post details about your sex life online so i wouldn't call that love. love can be expressed in a number of ways but airing your intimacies ain't one of them.

Are you really serious? I agree with you it is distasteful to post sex life things online because it is of nobodys business and no one should care.
But doing this would be equivalent or even proof there was no love is absolutely nonsense!

I am looking forward the King's Speach already done before Christmas. the suicide of Mr Behn will not change the Norvegians life.
But I think he is now like a Saint , if He says nothing they will critics.
I feel sorry for the King , He had to wait 10 years before he could marry Sonja Haraldson, and he allowed both of his Children Weddings who were critized at that time.
People of Norway has short memories ...as wrote someone before.

"The people´s of Norways memories" are as long or short like everywhere else. And the 1960s are not the 21st century....!

 

[C4A]

Having to attend the funeral service of their father, is the most difficult thing Ari Behn’s young daughters will have faced in their lives. To have to do so in the full and intrusive glare of public media, is unthinkable. Grieving is an intensely personal and private experience.

I do understand, however, that Mr Behn was much loved and respected in Norway and that many would want to pay their last respects.

Maybe to go about this in a different way? A private service attended by family and close friends only. And maybe later a more public and televised memorial service where his children will have the choice as to whether they want to be present.

 

[ladongas]

Are you really serious? I agree with you it is distasteful to post sex life things online because it is of nobodys business and no one should care.
But doing this would be equivalent or even proof there was no love is absolutely nonsense!

Only if you assume that real love and respect are mutually exclusive. A man who respected his lover and her family would never post lurid details such as those online. It’s horrid to think of those young girls being exposed to his egomaniacal public cackling. Ugh.

 

[iceflower]

.

Please remember that this thread is about the death of Ari Behn and not about Durek Verrett - please stay on topic of this thread - thank you!

 

[Denville]

NOT what I said - I said he was a minor author - If a poster from Norway on here cogently argues otherwise, then i'll retract it, until then i'll stand by that opinion, which I have garnered from some research into Mr Behns career.

In any case a televised funeral seems 'de trop' for a private citizen without any role in the life of a nation.

If the Norwegians wish for it and the family have no objection I can't see why it should not happen.

 

[eya]

"Ari Behn's publisher says that Behn leaves behind a completed script for a children's book which he has written with his eldest daughter Maud Angelica. It is uncertain whether if or when the book will be published"

https://twitter.com/x/status/1211896508498530304

 

[MARG]

So long as it has literary merit why would it not be published? It would be a wonderful remembrance for his daughter and a fitting memorial.

 

[Biri]

I am still in shock...RIP Ari.
What his girls and his parents must now feel...

 

[Tatiana Maria]

A short obituary, in English, written by a Norwegian historian and royalty expert: Dag Trygsland Hoelseth: Ari Behn (1972–2019)

[...] I never met Ari Behn. But everyone I know who met him had only good things to say about him – he was always friendly, warm and generous and included everyone. [...]

He was often ridiculed because of his big words and «Bohemian style» and was called «dandy» and a bit «self-centred» and other less flattering descriptions. [...]

The tabloids and many royalty-watchers have described him as a controversial person. He certainly created headlines over the years – his political statements and his comments on a former royal staff member's working conditions come among others to mind – but I have always felt that his «controversial behaviour» has been exaggerated. Granted, I have myself been quoted in the press as saying – with the institution of the royal house in mind – that he sometimes created «a bit too much noise». In general I think the headlines have just been mild ripples on the water, as I have also said earlier. The king and queen welcomed Ari into their arms and have always said how fond they were of him. Naturally they gave him freedom to form his career independent of the royal family. Everyone who knows something about the royal house also know that Ari never spoke on behalf of the institution, only on behalf of himself. [...]

 

[Somebody]

If the Norwegians wish for it and the family have no objection I can't see why it should not happen.

I wonder if it might be the other way around. The family apparently requested the Cathedral and the bishop to conduct the service, so they seem to prefer a 'grand' farewell. Having the service televised would fit in that scenario.

Whether it is the best thing to do for his daughters is another question. I just hope that the way it is done is not adding an additional burden.

 

[norwegianne]

Daniel will represent the Swedish royal family, NRK reports. Victoria will not be present.

 

[An Ard Ri]

Where will the burial take place?

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Daniel will represent the Swedish royal family, NRK reports. Victoria will not be present.

Interesting...so Victoria is not in Oslo as Royalty Central is reporting?

 

[tommy100]

Hmm intersting after all the reports Victoria dropped everything to be with ML. Unless one of the girls or ML isnt going to attend and Victoria is staying with them it seems they were wrong.

 

[JR76]

The rumours about Crown Princess Victoria taking the first plane to Oslo were all based on one unsubstantiated article in Svensk Damtidning. That magazine used to be quite reliable but by now a lot of what they write needs to be taken with a large pinch of salt.

 

[LadyFinn]

Hmm intersting after all the reports Victoria dropped everything to be with ML. Unless one of the girls or ML isnt going to attend and Victoria is staying with them it seems they were wrong.

Svensk Damtidning wrote that according to their information Victoria will break her Christmas holiday and attend at the funeral. Royal Central and Aanmoen turned it to that Victoria travelled straight away to Oslo. The royal court hasn't said anything about Victoria being in Oslo or attending the funeral. The swedish royal family will also have Dagmar von Arbin's funeral to attend, no information yet when it will be.

Daniel will represent the Swedish royal family, NRK reports. Victoria will not be present.

And here is the news about Daniel's attendance at the website of NRK. The director of the information and press department of the swedish royal court has confirmed it to NRK.
Prins Daniel til bisettinga av Behn – Siste nytt –*NRK