What wonderful pictures! Maud is actually smiling a little in the first! She must be a very good natured baby and Martha Louise looks radiant. Poor Ari looks a little tired!
__________________ It's clever, but is it art? ~Rudyard Kipling
2 MAY 2003
The newest member of the Norwegian royal family slept through most of her big moment on Friday when she was officially introduced to the world.
Two-day-old Maud Angelica Behn snoozed quietly as her proud parents Princess Martha Louise and her husband Ari Behn posed for official photographs at Norway's National Hospital where their firstborn put in an appearance on Tuesday night.
With her precious daughter snuggled in her arms, and looking radiant and relaxed, Princess Martha Louise said that the birth had gone as she had expected. "Everything really is fantastic, wonderful," she informed reporters.
Despite being third in line to the Norwegian throne the couple's daughter will not hold a title of her own. King Harald's decision seems to have gone down well with his subjects, as a poll conducted by one of the country's newspapers revealed 70 per cent of Norwegians agree with the royal decree with just 15 per cent saying they were against it.
The same poll also gave the thumbs up to the couple's choice of name for the young royal. Sixty six percent said they like the name Maud Angelica.
Princess Martha Louise's brother, Crown Prince Haakon is due to fly in from the UK on Saturday with his wife Crown Princess Mette Marit to see his new niece.
__________________ It's clever, but is it art? ~Rudyard Kipling
Norway's newest royal heir settled into her new home over the weekend. Her parents, Princess Martha Louise and Ari Behn, carried her out of the National Hospital and into a new life in their Oslo apartment.
A crowd of well-wishers gathered in the lobby of the hospital Rikshospitalet when the new little family made a formal departure on Saturday. Doctors and nurses lined up so the proud new parents of Maud Angelica Behn, third in line to the Norwegian throne, could offer public thanks.
Neither the princess nor her husband answered any questioned, posing only briefly for photos before climbing into a waiting car. They then headed for the apartment on Professor Dahls Gate in Oslo that Princess Martha Louise inherited several years ago from her maternal grandmother.
They earlier claimed they want "as normal a life as possible" when they take on the role of new parents. That means the princess may be taking her daughter to the local public health station in her neighborhood, to take advantage of the regular check-ups for babies that are offered to all new parents in Norway.
It remained unclear, however, whether the princess and her husband will employ a nanny for their daughter. All three are scheduled to move to New York in the autumn, to experience a few years overseas before Maud Angelica starts school. It's expected they'll take along a Norwegian nanny at that point.
Meanwhile, the new little family of three quickly received their first visitors at home. Just two hours after arriving home, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit came to meet their new niece, accompanied by the crown princess' young son from a previous relationship, Marius Borg.
Crown Prince Haakon said after the visit that Marius was allowed to hold Maud Angelica. "She's incredibly fine," said the crown prince, who had flown in from London for the weekend with his own little family.
__________________
Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size. -Virginia Woolf
Great pictures Cathérine Bergeyck! Little Maud has changed a lot since her birth and her baptism. She seems like a very happy and cheerful baby. What a nice smile she has for daddy and the cameras! Hard to say who she looks like though.
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