Been several Norwegian royal stories in the media here (both before and under my now 5-week holiday) which I didn't have time to write about, including stuff regarding The Crown Princess's health, everything Märtha, The Regent-Couple's holiday and a story about Marius' dog (yes, I said dog). Well, will try to write about both that and give you some updates about *Ingrid's confirmation* in the coming days (an event I will have full coverage of).
But now to something very sad that has sent shockwaves over the Norwegian media and the palace.
Because as some of you may know from various news-outlets in Norway and twitter: TV2's Royal Expert/commentator, the ''highly renowned, very knowledgeable, detail-oriented and irreplaceable'' Kjell Arne Totland has died at the age of 74 following a short illness.
About him: Short explained, he was a teacher in his home city Bergen who had become interested in royalty after having read books and magazines for his royal-mad mother when she was severely ill. And when he sent letters upon letters to the Norwegian rag-mag Se og Hør during the late 1980s to complain about errors in their royal coverage, it resulted in him (after having turned it down more than once) being offered a job as their royal editor in 1991, the year The King acceded to the throne. And was until he wanted more freedom to comment on TV and stuff in 2011, the only reliable person there.
But after having commented on royal stuff for NRK, TV2 and several newspapers, TV2 managed to convince him in 2013 to enter into an exclusive contract with them as their ''kongehusekspert på alle kanalens programflater og plattformer'' (royal house expert on all the channel's program-surfaces and platforms). - To the disappointment of NRK, which also wanted him.
And that was the start of seven years of which we have never seen anything like in other monarchies when it comes to royal experts/commentators. Yes, he would often appear several times a week on TV2 News Channel and News-shows on their main channel TV2 to explain/comment on day-to-day royal engagements and large-scale events such as The King's Silver/Consecration Jubilee celebrations in 2016, The Regent-Couple's 80th Birthday celebrations in 2017, The Regent-Couple's Golden Wedding Anniversary celebrations in 2018 and various royal events abroad, where he annoyingly spoke the whole time, also over the music. LOL. I.e. about history, architecture of the various palaces, popularity of the various monarchies, orders, uniforms, military-displays, jewellery, dresses, shoes, etc, etc. And to those familiar with Danish media, well, he was a mixture of Christian Eugen-Olsen (former master of ceremonies at the Danish court, now royal commentator/expert), Trine Larsen (royal reporter at BILLED-BLADET) and Ulla Terkelsen (foreign correspondent and commentator/expert of royal events on TV2dk). - Or as he has been called here, royal journalism's own David Attenborough.
And when asked about his job in an interview a few years ago, he said he 'felt ''privileged'' to be able to live off his hobby.
Another thing to mention is that he's probably the person besides The King (as someone said it the other day) who is most responsible for the monarchy's record-high support in the polls over the past 5 years.
How? Because he was the monarchy and the NRF's BIGGEST supporter and would constantly praise them (and the institution) like no other (especially The King). And since he (to my knowledge) never was in any serious relationship, they simply became the most important thing in his life, together with his late sister and her two sons with their families. Although it should be said that he has never had any problem voicing his opinion when there was something he didn't agree with. - Including Märtha's commercial use of her princess-title, which he has been ''highly critical'' of for years.
And he always respected those who didn't agree with him when it came to his stance on the monarchy.
Death: He kept it going to the full until early May when he suddenly stopped appearing on the TV-screen, being absent during the media-storm regarding Märtha, the May 17th celebrations and The Regent-Couple's annual county-visit in June. But he kept it going with giving written comments to both TV2 and other news-outlets and reassured people in private messaging on twitter that everything was fine and that he would be back for Ingrid's confirmation in August. And although he was his usual positive self, it became clear to me (through my emailing with him, where we discussed royal stuff) that he wasn't on what I will describe as ''top form physically.'' And when he stopped being active on twitter on August 3rd, I became quite worried, since he is ALWAYS there!
But nevertheless, when NRK announced on the radio last Wednesday that he had died during the night, I nearly crashed my car in shock.
Coverage: Well, the tributes started pouring in from his bosses and colleagues, and every outlet had it as their main story. - While his two nephews talked about his kindness to them and how proud they were of him.
And yes, the RF have sent their condolences.
And on an endnote: Well, I must say that I'm still quite shocked and sad over it, and the thought of not seeing/hearing that friendly, gentle, helpful and sweet man again who answered everyone who wanted to know about royalty, posed for selfies with children, teenagers and adults all the time is just beyond belief.
BTW: Here one can see a few videos of some of his several hundred appearances on TV2 (
link).
And here one can read his royal blog, where he was active until March, when he started having some technical problems with it (
link).
Article from TV2 about his death (
link). - Some quotes translated by me:
CEO and Chief Editor of TV2 said: ''Kjell Arne had a living commitment for this area. Few if anyone had the same expertise as him. It included both the long lines and major events, but also small details that he highlighted and which made him many followers in this area in Norway.
Kjell Arne quickly became an authority in this area. He had a living commitment for this - and as late as this summer, when he lay ill, he tipped us about things we should cover.
There are many who are interested in the monarchy and it is an important part of our history and of our present day. With Kjell Arne's passing, we lose a huge resource within this area.''
Article from VG (
link), where one can read how he became (as they put it) ''hele Norges Kjell Arne'' (the whole of Norway's Kjell Arne).
Royal Central article in English (
link).