Opening of the Parliament (Stortinget) 2004 - 2023


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See the Opening of the 162th Storting live here from 13:00 (12:00 British time)
https://www.stortinget.no/nn/kva-skjer-pa-stortinget/Stortinget-akkurat-na/nett-tv/

See post 117 from Saturday evening where I went through almost all the openings since 1945, and post 118 from yesterday evening where I went through some historical facts and posted two very informative articles from the Royal House and the Storting about all aspects of the ceremony.

I will update this post through the day.

Edit: Live on TV2 News Channel - Kjell Arne Totland is live at the Storting and Carl I. Hagen (former leader of the Progress Party) is in the studio.

Edit: The guard is already in place.

Edit: Live on NRK1 now:
https://www.nrk.no/nyheter/stortinget-apner-1.13725481

Edit: The King and Queen on their way to the Storting in the Open car - A5 - The Lincoln Continental 1966 (the car I mentioned in post 118) - CP Haakon in a state limousine.

Edit: The King, Queen and CP Haakon have arrived at the Storting.

Edit: The King, Queen and CP Haakon is walking into The Storting Chamber.

Edit: Live on TV2 News Channel:
http://www.tv2.no/v/1153546/

Edit: The MPs is singing the royal anthem, His Majesty is now speaking.

Edit: His Majesty has declared the 162th Storting opened.

Edit: Henrik Asheim (the youngest member of the government) and the controversial president of the Storting Olemic Thommessen is now finished speaking.

Edit: The King, Queen and CP Haakon have left The Storting Chamber.

Edit: The King, Queen and CP Haakon is now leaving the Storting in the same cars.
 
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This deserves its own post - The King, accompanied by the Queen and the Crown Prince, opened the 162th session of the Storting today:

The NRK broadcast:
https://tv.nrk.no/serie/nyheter/NNFA41014717/09-10-2017

The Broadcast from the Storting (without commentary) - the video is a bit weird, so you need to rewind it to 08:00 to see the arrival of the King, Queen and CP Haakon:
https://www.stortinget.no/link/dd18...inget-20171009-124501.mp4&msid=899&meid=10033

The Broadcast on TV2 News Channel (not available on the net) was best as usual with pictures of the King, Queen and CP Haakon leaving the Storting - here's a video of His Majesty's speech:
Trontalen: – Vil arbeide for et bærekraftig samfunn

Royal House article with photos:
Det 162. Storting høytidelig åpnet - kongehuset.no

The King's speech:
https://www.regjeringen.no/en/aktue...-the-162th-session-of-the-storting/id2573668/


YouTube video from Dagbladed:
 
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No Crown-Princess in attendance ?
 
wyevale said:
No Crown-Princess in attendance ?
Click to expand...

No, she is not supposed to join them as she has no constitutional role. The king and crown prince are expected (and maybe Ingrid - Alexandrs after she turns 18?) and the queen is "tolerated"...
 
:previous: I wrote something similar in post 118, where I went through some historical facts.

The presence of Consorts:

1. Queen Maud attended 5 openings, the last time in 1922.

2. Queen Sonja has participated during all openings, except 1992, 2000 and 2001.

3. Some of the MP's didn't want the Queen to attend in 1991, but the King insisted.

4. And her presence is more than ''tolerated'' today and most people (including experts and MPs) wants her to be there, with the exception of Political editor Kjetil B. Alstadheim in Dagens Næringsliv (he don't want Haakon there either).

The non-presence of the wife of the heir:

1. Märtha and Sonja (even in absence of a consort) never attended as Crown Princesses, the same with Mette-Marit.

2. She (Mette-Marit) could of course have been there, but there is no tradition for it, and as royal author Tor Bomann-Larsen said a while ago, "Where should she sit? There is no throne for her.''

More news from the ceremony:
The King stumbled on his way down from the throne last year, and a handrail was therefore installed this year to help him.

A long informative article from Royal Central's Norwegian born/living Europe Correspondent Oskar Aanmoen:
King Harald, Queen Sonja & Crown Prince Haakon attend the State Opening of Parliament – Royal Central
 
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I am glad that the Queen is nowadays accepted - after the insistence of the King. However, it remains weird that the spouse of the heir is not 'allowed'/'expected' - Norway is truly an exception.

I wonder whether it might actually not 'despite' the absence of a consort but more because of the absence; it may have seemed (at some point, for some reason) illogical for the spouse of the heir to be at the ceremony while the King came alone (because he was widowed). In addition, I wonder whether Sonja's status as 'commoner' might have been part of this as well; as the King wasn't happy about his son marrying her, so allowing her at this ceremony might have been a bridge too far at that point. However, I hope that at some future date (maybe when Ingrid-Alexandra turns 18? Is there truly no place where she could sit with her mother?) they remediate this situation to at least allow all Norway's majesties and royal highnesses at this yearly gathering.
 
Somebody said:
I am glad that the Queen is nowadays accepted - after the insistence of the King. However, it remains weird that the spouse of the heir is not 'allowed'/'expected' - Norway is truly an exception.

I wonder whether it might actually not 'despite' the absence of a consort but more because of the absence; it may have seemed (at some point, for some reason) illogical for the spouse of the heir to be at the ceremony while the King came alone (because he was widowed). In addition, I wonder whether Sonja's status as 'commoner' might have been part of this as well; as the King wasn't happy about his son marrying her, so allowing her at this ceremony might have been a bridge too far at that point. However, I hope that at some future date (maybe when Ingrid-Alexandra turns 18? Is there truly no place where she could sit with her mother?) they remediate this situation to at least allow all Norway's majesties and royal highnesses at this yearly gathering.
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1. But Crown Princess Märtha wasn't allowed to attend either, and she had a very close relationship with her father-in-law King Haakon.

2. When CP Haakon becomes monarch, then both Mette-Marit and Ingrid-Alexandra (if 18) will be present. And no, there is no place for either of them to sit as long as the King is alive, something I hope he is when Ingrid turns 18. But they can of course be present at other events in the The Storting Chamber, as we saw in 2014 for the 200th Anniversary of Norway's Constitution - photos of it here:
https://scanpix.no/spWebApp/preview/editorial/szc39256
https://scanpix.no/spWebApp/preview/editorial/szc38f42

More from yesterday's opening - Photo gallery from NTB Scanpix:
https://scanpix.no/spWebApp/search.action?search.aggregations.eventName=Stortingets åpning 2017

And again just look at that historical and beautiful car, the King's A5 - The Lincoln Continental 1966 (the car I wrote about in post 118). And as people can see, they had the windows up, unlike last year when they were down - photos from yesterday:
https://scanpix.no/spWebApp/preview/editorial/tc480174
https://scanpix.no/spWebApp/preview/editorial/tc47ec7b

And as I wrote in post 125, the King stumbled on his way down from the throne last year, and a handrail was therefore installed this year to help him, here's a photo of him using it:
https://scanpix.no/spWebApp/preview/editorial/tc480183
 
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ROYAL NORWAY said:
S and the controversial president of the Storting Olemic Thommessen is now finished speaking.
Click to expand...

Why is he controversial?
Party-political adherence or a personal goof?

BTW. Thanks Royal Norway. Fine coverage as always.
 
:previous: You're welcome! ?

Because of his personality and all the controversies he has been involved in the past year - here are two of them:

1. The so-called building scandal (renovation of buildings used by the Storting - became 25 times more expensive than expected), which almost cost him his job - read here:
http://norwaytoday.info/news/thommessen-re-elected-parliament-leader-slight-margin/

2. The Dinner scandal - read here:
http://norwaytoday.info/sport/nif-picked-bill-private-dinners/

A quote that might interest you, but not surprising since Frederik is a member of IOC:
On two occasions, Thommessen hosted dinners for national decision makers, members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), local decision makers and representatives from the Norwegian and Danish Royal Houses.
Click to expand...


And to those of you who reads this thread, The King, accompanied by the Crown Prince, opened the 8th Sameting (Sami Parliament) today - read here:
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forum...s-2-december-2006-a-11593-21.html#post2026503
 
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:previous: Thanks polyesco! :flowers:

And yes, HM The King will undertake the formal opening of the 163rd session of the Storting today. - The Queen and The Crown Prince will also be in attendance.

So let's go through it in detail:

12:30: The King, accompanied by the Queen and CP Haakon, inspects his Guard inside The Royal Palace's Vestibule. (No photographers allowed in.)
12:50: Members of the court and six of the King's equerries followed by CP Haakon (in uniform) drives in closed cars, while The King (in uniform) and Queen drives in the 1966 open-Lincoln Continental (A5) from The Royal Palace down ''Karl Johans gate'' (the main street of the city of Oslo, which will be flanked by Soldiers from the King's Guard, Army, Navy and Air Force) to the Storting.

When the royals arrive at ''Løvebakken'' (''The Lion Hill'') (the driveway up to the Storting-building), The King will receive ''parademarsj (Parade March) fanfare'' from ''Forsvarets stabsmusikkorps'' (''The Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces'') before they walk into ''Vandrehallen'' (''The walking hall''), where they are welcomed by a deputation comprising seven MPs who will accompany them throughout the event. The deputation’s members are appointed at the sitting in which the Storting constitutes itself, on the basis of a county-by-county list of representatives and representative numbers.

Then the royals and their entourage will walk into ''Eidsvollgalleriet'' (''the Eidsvold’s Gallery'') & ''7. juni-værelset'' (''The 7th of June room''), where they will spend about 5 min with the government, the President of the Storting and representatives for various authorities in Norway (who are invited as guests of the Storting).
The President, accompanied by the Secretary to the Presidium, will then enter the Storting Chamber and (from his table in front of the royal podium) declare the meeting as legally set. Then the aforementioned representatives will walk in, followed by The King and his entourage.
The Regent-Couple and the CP will then walk up to the royal podium, where they will be standing in front of the 3 throne-chairs (with the equerries standing on each side), while the MP's sing the royal anthem.
The Prime Minister will then walk up to the King and hand him the government's speech, which will be read by HM as ''The Speech from the Throne,'' where he declares the 163rd session of the Storting opened. After this, the royals will finally be able to sit down, while the youngest (or newest) member of the government will give a ''State of the Realm Address,'' which is read out in Nynorsk (New Norwegian) - And when this is done, the Address will be given to the Prime Minister who will hand it over to the King.

Then, the President of the Storting walks up to the royal podium where he/she receives both speeches from the King.
The ceremony then ends with a short speech from the president, which is concluded with the words ''Gud bevare Kongen og fedrelandet'' (''God save The King and the fatherland''). - This is followed by the singing of the first verse of the national anthem.

The King and his entourage will then walk out of the Storting Chamber and depart in the same way as they arrived.

P.S. As the Constitution states that no deliberation or debate may take place in the presence of the King, the Storting session can't continue until HM has left the building.

--------------------

Television coverage:

The state owned Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK):

NRK1 (Norway's largest TV-channel): Will send it live frome 12:30 to 14:15 (11:30 to 13:15 - British time).

TV 2 Group (Norway's largest commercial media company):

TV2 News Channel: Will send it live from 12:30 to 14:30 (11:30 to 13:30 - British time).

I will post live-links if available.
 
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Reposted with several updates. - Watch the whole ceremony in the two links below:

Live links:

NRK1 - with commentary.

Dagbladet - without commentary.

As usual, TV2 News Channel has the best coverage with their royal expert, Kjell Arne Totland and their political reporter Kjetil Løset. - Unfortunately not available for non-subscribers on the net.

--------------------

Well, it's a pretty cold and rainy Oslo today, so the Regent-Couple are in their main state car (A2) - and not the 1966 open-Lincoln Continental (which they usually use on this occasion).

Edit: The King is walking pretty well now, really reassuring to see.

Edit: This is the first opening for, Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen, as President of the Storting. - She took over from Olemic Thommessen, who had to resign in March 2018 (read about it here).

Edit: Read about all the details in the post above, which I wrote earlier today.

Edit: Both the King, Bård Hoksrud (Minister of Agriculture and Food from the Progress Party), and the President of the Storting are now done with their speeches. - The royals will now head back to the palace.

Edit: As some may remember, the King stumbled on his way down from the royal podium during the 2016 opening, and a handrail was therefore installed this (and last) year to help him.

Edit: Really ''amazing'' that some bothered to brave the weather just to wave to a Regent-Couple in a closed car.

--------------------

The text of ''The speech from the throne by His Majesty The King on the occasion of the opening of the 163th session of the Storting.''
 
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ROYAL NORWAY said:
[...] where they are welcomed by a deputation comprising seven MPs who will accompany them throughout the event. The deputation’s members are appointed at the sitting in which the Storting constitutes itself, on the basis of a county-by-county list of representatives and representative numbers.
[...]

The Prime Minister will then walk up to the King and hand him the government's speech, which will be read by HM as ''The Speech from the Throne, '' where he declares the 163rd session of the Storting opened. After this, the royals will finally be able to sit down, while the youngest (or newest) member of the government will give a ''State of the Realm Address,'' which is read out in Nynorsk (New Norwegian)
Click to expand...

Giving the opportunity for the various counties to be represented in this way is thoughtful, and it is rather interesting that Norway assigns the State of the Realm address to the member of the government who is the lowest in the order of precedence.

In which language are parliamentary deliberations ordinarily held?

Somebody said:
I am glad that the Queen is nowadays accepted - after the insistence of the King. However, it remains weird that the spouse of the heir is not 'allowed'/'expected' - Norway is truly an exception.
Click to expand...

Is the protocol in Norway truly more restrictive than that of other monarchies? I have not watched many openings of parliament, but I am not sure if even the consorts of monarchs are seated on the podium in other countries.
 
Tatiana Maria said:
Is the protocol in Norway truly more restrictive than that of other monarchies? I have not watched many openings of parliament, but I am not sure if even the consorts of monarchs are seated on the podium in other countries.
Click to expand...


In the UK and the Netherlands where the Monarch is seating on a Throne the consort is seating next to him.
 
Why is Mette-Marit never present on the opening day of the parlament?
 
Stefan said:
Do you think they will do this again when the three Princesses have turned 18 and will attend?
Click to expand...

No, the dais has been made smaller than it originally was. Plus constitutional purists argue that the head of state should be on the dais, alone. After all he is the only one with a role.

The UK allows more folks on the dais as well: https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7569/27001126232_9997e7f0f5_b.jpg

I like the the Norwegian proceedings more than the Danish. The last one is so surprisingly flat in pomp and circumstance.
 
Somebody said:
I am glad that the Queen is nowadays accepted - after the insistence of the King. However, it remains weird that the spouse of the heir is not 'allowed'/'expected' - Norway is truly an exception.

I wonder whether it might actually not 'despite' the absence of a consort but more because of the absence; it may have seemed (at some point, for some reason) illogical for the spouse of the heir to be at the ceremony while the King came alone (because he was widowed). In addition, I wonder whether Sonja's status as 'commoner' might have been part of this as well; as the King wasn't happy about his son marrying her, so allowing her at this ceremony might have been a bridge too far at that point. However, I hope that at some future date (maybe when Ingrid-Alexandra turns 18? Is there truly no place where she could sit with her mother?) they remediate this situation to at least allow all Norway's majesties and royal highnesses at this yearly gathering.
Click to expand...


Queen Sonja was not a "commoner" anymore when her husband ascended the throne, as you know. So, this was, of course, not the reason (it would be some kind of hypocritical and weird, if a parliament, especially one of such an egalitarian state and society such as Norway, representing THE PEOPLE, would exclude a person only because he/she had no aristocratic or royal background...!) The reason was that the Queen consort in Norway, like any other male or female spouse of the monarch, is not considered having an official constitutional role, other than the Sovereign him/ herself of course and the immediate heir.


Originally Posted by Somebody
"I am glad that the Queen is nowadays accepted - after the insistence of the King. However, it remains weird that the spouse of the heir is not 'allowed'/'expected' - Norway is truly an exception."

I was wondering why you wrote "nowadays" as this as this is really old stuff since about 25 years ago. It was only an issue at the beginning of Harald´s reign. But when he clearly stated that the Queen would of course accompany him for the parliament opening, this small debate died instantly.
Further more after the long period without a Queen (Queen Maud died in 1938, King Olav was a widower all through his relatively long reign), Norwegians weren´t used a Queen attending the parliament opening anymore. After 1938 CP Olav accompanied his father for this event and after that, since 1959 (CPss Martha having died already in `54) CP Harald joined his father Olav.

So, if the current "arveprinsessen", Ingrid Alexandra, will attend the opening of parliament when 18 years of age, will, by today´s standards, depend on one thing only. And that is, if King Harald will be still alive in 2022 or not. If he is, we will witness the same royal persons attending this event like we have seen today.
 
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wartenberg7 said:
Further more after the long period without a Queen (Queen Maud died in 1938, King Olav was a widower all through his relatively long reign), Norwegians weren´t used a Queen attending the parliament opening anymore. After 1938 CP Olav accompanied his father for this event and after that, since 1957 (CPss Martha having died already in `54) CP Harald joined his father Olav.

So, if the current "arveprinsessen", Ingrid Alexandra, will attend the opening of parliament when 18 years of age, will, by today´s standards, depend on one thing only. And that is, if King Harald will be still alive in 2022 or not. If he is, we will witness the same royal persons attending this event like we have seen today.
Click to expand...


Even before 1938 Queen Maud rarely attended the Opening of Parliament seldom as during this time of the year she usually spend time in the UK. I read somewhere in this Thread that the last time she attended was in 1922. Perhaps Ingrid Alexandra will also attended as the Arveprinsessen in 1922 even if King Harald is still alive. I think one has to wait and see.
 
wartenberg7 said:
Queen Sonja was not a "commoner" anymore when her husband ascended the throne, as you know. So, this was, of course, not the reason (it would be some kind of hypocritical and weird, if a parliament, especially one of such an egalitarian state and society such as Norway, representing THE PEOPLE, would exclude a person only because he/she had no aristocratic or royal background...!) The reason was that the Queen consort in Norway, like any other male or female spouse of the monarch, is not considered having an official constitutional role, other than the Sovereign him/ herself of course and the immediate heir.

[....]
Click to expand...

That is constitutionally the most pure. The King and the successor to the King are named in the Constitution. Personally I like it when the King is alone on the dais. That symbolises his role in the state.

To illustrate this purity: in 2013 some Dutch courthouses hanged portraits of the new royal couple. Then a correction was issued: justice is spoken in name of The King. The pictures with the royal couple were removed indeed and changed for ones with The King only.
 
Stefan said:
Even before 1938 Queen Maud rarely attended the Opening of Parliament seldom as during this time of the year she usually spend time in the UK. I read somewhere in this Thread that the last time she attended was in 1922. Perhaps Ingrid Alexandra will also attended as the Arveprinsessen in 1922 even if King Harald is still alive. I think one has to wait and see.
Click to expand...


I know, but this was not based on constitutional reasons, but because the Queen had other businesses to do as you said yourself, visiting her relatives in England. I wonder if she would "get away with it" these days, missing one of the most important duties in the royal calendar...:whistling: I think only sickness would be an excuse nowadays.

About IA attending even if the current monarch is still alive I´m not so sure of. Yes, we´ll see...:flowers:

Duc_et_Pair said:
That is constitutionally the most pure. The King and the successor to the King are named in the Constitution. Personally I like it when the King is alone on the dais. That symbolises his role in the state.

To illustrate this purity: in 2013 some Dutch courthouses hanged portraits of the new royal couple. Then a correction was issued: justice is spoken in name of The King. The pictures with the royal couple were removed indeed and changed for ones with The King only.
Click to expand...


I´m not sure if "purity" is something I expect, of all things, of a monarchy...
I like The King AND Queen being a joint force, a team for the country. In most monarchies portraits of both the monarch and his spouse are being hung in all public and official buildings. In my hometown in the Norwegian Sailor´s church is a portrait of the royal COUPLE in the vestibule. I remember having seen this in old documentaries about Greece in the 1960s or Belgium during Albert IIs reign, where portraits hang in courts of justice. https://media.gettyimages.com/photo...=f6tKZQE1d7PVnPiQrwbgRpvruuFxnHc2Aoky6Tfw5ro=
Isn´t there nowadays also a state portrait hanging of Pr. Philip in the royal gallery in the Houses of parliament right beside the doors at the robing room (I think in the 1950s and 60s there were state portraits of King George III and Queen Charlotte hanging there). https://static.independent.co.uk/s3...pg&auto=webp&quality=70&crop=16:9,offset-y0.5

I think that´s the way it should be, having grown up with this and in effect being used to this idea.
 
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Tatiana Maria said:
In which language are parliamentary deliberations ordinarily held?
Click to expand...
In Norwegian, which is one of two languages in Norway (the other is Sami). - But keep in mind that the Norwegian language consists of several dialects, which of course are used (during the parliamentary deliberations) by the MPs who speak them.
Nynorsk OTOH (which I referred to in post 131) is first and foremost a written form of the Norwegian language (used by around 10% of the population). - And although it does appear as a spoken language, it's mostly used in the context of a manuscript. I.e. in speeches, news broadcasts and theaters.

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Blog Real said:
Why is Mette-Marit never present on the opening day of the parlament?
Click to expand...
Because there is no tradition for the heir's wife to be there (not even in the absence of a consort). - And there is no place for her to sit either.

--------------------

Stefan said:
Perhaps Ingrid Alexandra will also attended as the Arveprinsessen in 1922 even if King Harald is still alive. I think one has to wait and see.
Click to expand...
Well, then she has to sit in the gallery together with the diplomats and the personal guests of the MPs, which will REALLY SURPRISE me.

--------------------

And then to the discussion about the Queen's presence back in 1991.

I wrote a bit about it last year, but that was when I still used translations, because I was unsure of my own English writing. - So here we go:

A few of the then 165 (169 from 2005) ''stortingsrepresentantene'' (''MPs'') didn't want the Queen to attend because she had nothing to do there constitutionally. - But a LARGE MAJORITY of them (especially the female ones), the media - and last but not least, the King himself, wanted her there.
 
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Has he done this before when the King was ill, or is this the first time?
 
Too bad Princess Mette-Marit wasn't there, but probably because she had health problems, it would be risky.
 
SLV said:
Has he done this before when the King was ill, or is this the first time?
Click to expand...


The last time a Crown Prince opened Parliament was in 1990 when then CRown Prince Harald acted as Regent for his father.
 
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