Princess Ragnhild and family news and picture thread

[Tatiana Maria]

Princess Ragnhild, Mrs. Lorentzen requested her children to gift her tiara (inherited from her maternal grandmother Princess Ingeborg of Sweden, by birth Princess of Denmark) to Princess Ingrid Alexandra. From the Royal Court's article on the tiara:

When Princess Ingeborg died, Her Highness Princess Ragnhild Mrs Lorentzen inherited the tiara. Princess Ragnhild’s children gave the tiara to Princess Ingrid Alexandra as their gift on her 18th birthday. “Princess Ragnhild wanted Ingrid Alexandra to have Grandmother’s tiara,” said Princess Astrid.

https://www.royalcourt.no/nyhet.html...2476&sek=27262

Originally Posted by tommy100

Oh what is this? Did she not approve of MM and Haakon?

Princess' outburst causes turmoil

Princess' outburst causes turmoil

Princess Ragnhild expressed her dissatisfaction with the Norwegian Crown Princess and his sister in a TV 2 documentary aired Monday. Norwegian politicians and royal experts said she should have kept her mouth shut. View the documentary here.

10.02.04 10:46

Carin Pettersson

[...]

In the documentary Princess Ragnhild commented on Crown Prince Haakon’s and Princess Märtha Louise’s choice of partners.

“I’m not too thrilled for whom these two children married, but it is none of my business,” the Princess said. “They are not my children. I think they have had poor advisors. They may not have poor advisors today, but they in the past.”

Princess Ragnhild married a man of the people back in her day, but she is still very critical to the royal children’s selection of spouses. In the documentary, she compares her own husband, Erling Lorentzen, to Ari Behn and Crown Princess Mette-Marit.

”He is in a different category then the two of them. He has, among other things, a proper job, and no¿” Princess Ragnhild stated.

Here's what Princess Ragnhild said

Tuesday 24 February 2004

Here's what Princess Ragnhild said

[...]

Asked whether she ponders the future of the monarchy, she said she does. "I'm not worried for myself, but for Norway, yes," she said. "I hope I die before that happens. I really hope so."

She made it clear she does not admire Crown Prince Haakon or his sister, Princess Martha Louise, and said she thinks they've had "poor advisers." She absolutely does not approve of their spousal choices, the former single mother from Kristiansand, Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoeiby, and Bohemian author Ari Behn.

Are they negative for the monarchy? "Yes, that I'm certain of," she said.

"If my father had lived a bit longer, everything would have been very different," she claimed.

King Olav wouldn't have allowed the marriages? "No, I don't think so," she said.

'Feels sorry' for Marius

Princess Ragnhild said she also feels "terribly sorry for that son she (now-Crown Princess Mette-Marit) has." Once the couple had a new child who's a royal heir, she claimed, "poor Marius is nothing. He is six (now seven) years old, but will understand that there's a difference. And that will give them (Haakon and Mette-Marit) problems. I hope they have thought about that."

Princess Ragnhild suggested that she was nearly forced to leave the country when she married a commoner herself in 1953. "I'm not really sure, but I think it was such that if we moved (to Brazil) we'd be allowed to marry," she said. Today she has three children and four grandchildren of her own.

She said it was difficult to move to a new country, where she didn't know anyone and couldn't understand the language. But she said it was a relief to be able to live as a normal person.

She maintained contact with her father through weekly letters, but she burned all those she received from King Olav a few years ago.

Both Princess Ragnhild and her husband have been in Norway recently, but Erling Lorentzen flew back to Brazil on Monday after trying to get TV2 to edit his wife's remarks. The princess, who reportedly remains in Norway for a while longer, said she stands by her comments in the TV2 documentary and stressed that she's made similar comments before.

Aftenposten English Web Desk
Nina Berglund

And here is context for the interview:

https://trondni.blogspot.com/2012/09...gnhild-of.html

Her great mistake, which had grave consequences for her public image, came a few years later, when the King and Queen made a state visit to Brazil in November 2003. The King had not visited his sister for 35 years and the Princess looked greatly forward to entertaining him for lunch in her home. However, the King and Queen cancelled on short notice in order to watch a beach volleyball match. The Princess apparently felt publicly humiliated and let her hurt feelings get the better of her by giving an interview to TV 2 in which she made some very critical comments about the Crown Prince’s and Princess Märtha Louise’s choices of partners – opinions she, as a member of the royal family, ought to have saved for the King’s ear only.
The interview caused a huge furore when it was broadcast in early 2004, and the public image of Princess Ragnhild – by then unknown to many Norwegians – became that of a bitter old woman more or less “exiled” to Brazil. I am told the Princess herself greatly regretted it all, but, being a wise man, the King chose to forgive and forget. His only comment was that he would not allow this to ruin family relations.

Originally Posted by Prinsara

Of course not. Nor Märtha and Ari, nor her own sister and Mr. Ferner.

What did she say about Mr. Ferner?

Originally Posted by Hans-Rickard

Princess Ragnhild was born in 1930 and was very much a product of her time (= a lot of conservative views)... Way more than her siblings Princess Astrid and King Harald...
She also had very little understanding for how the mentality in Norway had changed during those 50 years since she moved to Brazil...

She was also the first to marry a commoner and pioneered the way in the court of public opinion for her siblings and her brother's children to marry their chosen spouses. She was arguably the one who suffered the harshest consequence (de facto exile) for doing so.

[Prinsara]

I'm not sure she said anything about Mr. Ferner, but I think the fact that Astrid was allowed to both marry a divorcé after a much shorter period of time and remain in Norway must have been upsetting.

If she likewise never said anything about Sonja during nine years, I would wonder. Was she satisfied with Harald prevailing, or did she think Norway needed a more suitable queen? If she accepted Sonja, why become upset with the children? Ragnhild will probably keep some mysteries unless she pops up in someone's comprehensive NRF biography at some point.

Although the interview may have been given in hurt and anger and regretted, it wasn't out of nowhere. Due to physical and emotional distance there are things about Princess Ragnhild we just don't know, unlike her surviving, more accessible siblings.

[MsJulie]

Princess Ragnhild was a very unhappy person, imo. RIP

[Skippy]

Originally Posted by Prinsara

I'm not sure she said anything about Mr. Ferner, but I think the fact that Astrid was allowed to both marry a divorcé after a much shorter period of time and remain in Norway must have been upsetting.

If she likewise never said anything about Sonja during nine years, I would wonder. Was she satisfied with Harald prevailing, or did she think Norway needed a more suitable queen? If she accepted Sonja, why become upset with the children? Ragnhild will probably keep some mysteries unless she pops up in someone's comprehensive NRF biography at some point.

Although the interview may have been given in hurt and anger and regretted, it wasn't out of nowhere. Due to physical and emotional distance there are things about Princess Ragnhild we just don't know, unlike her surviving, more accessible siblings.

I suspect because, AFAIK, Sonja was fairly low-key without any scandals. Mette-Marit and Ari Behn were not exactly that.

[Tatiana Maria]

Originally Posted by Skippy

I suspect because, AFAIK, Sonja was fairly low-key without any scandals. Mette-Marit and Ari Behn were not exactly that.

Indeed, and I don't think Sonja Haraldsen had a record of involvement in the (illegal) drug scene. Reading Norwegian news reports from the early 2000s, it seems that for the general public, that was the most controversial element in the background of both Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby and Ari Behn, and probably for that reason, both of them specifically condemned illegal drugs in pre-wedding interviews.

As for Princess Ragnhild, while I haven't seen the 2004 TV2 interview, I think the comment "[My husband] is in a different category then the two of them. He has, among other things, a proper job" makes clear that she was not hypocritically criticizing her great-nephew and great-niece for marrying commoners, as is often claimed. I expect she would also have applied "proper job" to Sonja Haraldsen, who had been expected to take over her family firm.

[Prinsara]

A new piece about Ragnhild which portrays her very favorably. https://royaltyrobertwriter.home.blo...-of-contrasts/

- there was no "magic bullet" re: her marriage; Lorentzen went and spoke to King Haakon and did not get his blessing, which must have taken no small amount of courage, and then it seems like Haakon was finally just constitutionally advised he didn't have a reason not to permit it (which I sincerely hope Harald will ignore. Different story...)
- contrary to my assumptions, she was not embittered about living abroad in Brazil and was quite content there, or about Astrid being allowed to marry a divorcé and was actually sympathetic to her since the waiting game was so familiar
- she was however pretty frank that her family (I guess meaning her mother and grandfather particularly, since Olav seemed sorry about it) had been horrible to her with regards to the marriage saga (although since her mother was dying while she was expecting her first child, who knows how she ended up feeling?)
- she is the modern-day Princess Beatrice to historians for having burned a giant correspondence with Olav, I guess
- It is a good read.