70th birthday celebrations of Queen Sonja

[norwegianne]

The 4th of July, on H.M. The Queen's birthday, the celebrations start in Stavanger. Guests from the European royal houses are invited to a sea journey with the royal yacht "Norge" along the coast from Stavanger to the King and Queen's summer residence in Vestfold. During the journey, there will be visits to Lindesnes and Arendal.

Thread will be opened closer to the date.

[ysbel]

(as submitted by Her_Majesty)

Danish Royal Family website announces Danish Royals will attend the celebrations.

from Kongehuset

The Reigning Couple and The Crown Prince Couple sail Norwegian waters on the occasion of HM Queen Sonja’s 70th birthday aboard The Royal Yacht, accompanied by the Norwegian Royal Yacht ‘Norge’.

[Larzen]

The county of Rogaland has released the agenda for Queen Sonjas birthday that will be celebrated in Stavanger on june 4th

The Norwegian royal family will arrive in Stavnger on the royal ship at 10.15, and will be followed by many cultural events, including the gift to sonja, a exhbition of childrens art
FM Rogaland - Hovudside - Dronning Sonja fyller 70 år&

[norwegianne]

Her_Majesty let me know that NRK has made a special category dedicated to Queen Sonja's history: NRK Nett-TV - hastighetsmåling

[Larzen]

Maybe Sonjas birthday thread could be opened, information is starting to come in the local and national press?

Sonja in Stavanger on Monday on a trip to make the last arangements on her birthday. she has also given an interview to the local paper Aftenbladet which will be published on june 29th
Dronningen besøkte Stavanger - Stavanger Aftenblad - Aftenbladet.no - Lokalt

Between 30-40 royals are expected, the gueslist will probably be released at the end of the month. Even if the ministry of forreign affairs has issued acceditation forms press from France, Spain, Belgium, UK and Germany has already asked to get accreditation. ARD is considering broadcasting part of the celebrations live, the management in Stavanger is very happy with the chance they get to promote their city internationally
http://web3.aftenbladet.no/kultur/2008/article467365.ece

Around 200 people from the press in expected according to Stavanger municipality, the people who organise this is starting to get worried because so many press people has never been there before and since they do not know the exact number yet.
http://web3.aftenbladet.no/lokalt/article466716.ece


A Press program, so far only in Norwegian
kongehuset.no - H.M. Dronningens fødselsdagsfeiring 4. – 6. juli: Presseopplegg

a summary

4 july
The Norwegian Royals will arrive in Stavanger harbour onboard Norge where they will be received, Then they (the NRF) will walk to the town square, they will be greeted by music bands and the Mayor will give a speech, Then there will be a lyrical service in Stavanger Cathedral.

The European royals will be arriving at Sola (=the Sun) airport in the afternoon. A lunch will be given by the city of Stavanger at "hall-toll". In the evening they will go to a resturant and Sør Hidle outside of Stavanger called "Flo og Fjære" Its a very un-norwegian garden with palmthrees, lemons and similar things that dont grow normally here, the resturant and garden is a 20 minutes boatride of the coast of Stavanger

After the royals wil board Norge, Danebrog and KMN Horten, and I guess some might go home
Stavanger kommune
Stavanger Aftenblad - Aftenbladet.no - Nyheter fra Stavanger og Rogaland - forsiden

5 july
The ships will sail up the Spangereid chanel which will be officially opened and there will be some program, then they will go the most southern part of Norway, Lindesnes
http://www.lindesnes.kommune.no/default.aspx
Lindesnes

6 july
they will sail up Blindleia (the blind route or something like that) outside of Lillesand in the morning and then spend a bit of time in Arendal with a cultural program in the evening
Velkommen til Lillesand kommune
Arendal kommune
Agderposten interaktiv
Fvn.no

7 july
the birthday cruise will end At Tjøme where the King and Queen will give a private dinner at their beatiful summerhouse, this will be a mostly private event
Tønsberg kommune
tb.no

[norwegianne]

Originally Posted by Larzen

The European royals will be arriving at Sola (=the Sun) airport in the afternoon.

Cue the local joke about Norway being so advanced that they're the only nation with an airport on the Sun

Originally Posted by Larzen

A In the evening they will go to a resturant and Sør Hidle outside of Stavanger called "Flo og Fjære" Its a very un-norwegian garden with palmthrees, lemons and similar things that dont grow normally here, the resturant and garden is a 20 minutes boatride of the coast of Stavanger

It's an absolutely amazing place. I was there a few years back, in connection with a family reunion on the island, and it feels pretty strange to walk among lemon and orange trees, and know that you're in Norway. (Feels even stranger that they've chosen an island with history in my family as stage for Sonja's birthday-party...)

I'll be in Stavanger the 4th of July and I'm really looking forward to attempting to see something of this. (My mother even just assumed that I'd be home for the summer because of this) And if I don't get to see a lot of it… well, that's what TRF is for

[crm2317]

Is the KMN Horten a Norweigen royal yacht? I can just picture all the royal yachts sailing together with their royal family onboard. It will be a wonderful occasion!

[norwegianne]

Originally Posted by crm2317

Is the KMN Horten a Norweigen royal yacht? I can just picture all the royal yachts sailing together with their royal family onboard. It will be a wonderful occasion!

KNM Horten served as a royal ship when the royal yacht Norge was damaged in a fire in 1985. Today it is involved in training of new Marines (if I understand correctly). It is well-equipped with bedrooms. It isn't particularly aestetic like Dannebrog & Norge is. http://www.mil.no/sjo/keskdr/overfla...rtoyer/horten/

[Aurora810]

Is it my imagination or does this celebration seem longer? It seemed that with the king the royals from all over didn't arrive until the weekend but yet the family still had some appearances during the week before the major celebrations took place. I'm not sure I'm understanding this celebration, are they going to be on a ship most of the time and if so how does the press get pictures or is the press invited onboard? Or are there designated stopping points for pictures? Also is this expected to be a bigger celebration then the king had or more low-key?

I looked back at a thread of one of the Queen's birthday celebrations(can't remember which year it was) but there was a cruise like this and there seemed to be few pictures of the whole thing. Few as in comparing it to the king's most recent birthday bash.

[norwegianne]

Originally Posted by Aurora810

Is it my imagination or does this celebration seem longer? It seemed that with the king the royals from all over didn't arrive until the weekend but yet the family still had some appearances during the week before the major celebrations took place. I'm not sure I'm understanding this celebration, are they going to be on a ship most of the time and if so how does the press get pictures or is the press invited onboard? Or are there designated stopping points for pictures? Also is this expected to be a bigger celebration then the king had or more low-key?

I looked back at a thread of one of the Queen's birthday celebrations(can't remember which year it was) but there was a cruise like this and there seemed to be few pictures of the whole thing. Few as in comparing it to the king's most recent birthday bash.

If you look at the programme Larzen posted, you'll notice that they'll be spending the days on land, so to speak. I imagine that the most part of the boat-journey will take place at night. I can't imagine the press being given access onboard the ships.

There isn't really any big gala-events for this one like there was for the king's. Flo & Fjære (the location for the birthday dinner on July 4) isn't really comparable to the Palace. And the celebration at their summer houe will be private.

There were plenty of pictures of the 60th joint birthday celebrations in the magazines at the time, but that's ten years ago - when TRF didn't exist. The number of pictures dedicated to one event seem to reach a peak the day after the event, and then fall. This event promises to be somewhat similar to the 60th birthday celebrations.

[dazzling]

This sounds like so much fun. King Harld's celebration was amazing so this would just be as good. Since its in summer & a cruise trip & 4 days, cant be get any luckier? It would be intresting to see the Norwegianne family, probably the little ones too & other royals couples attending this event all dressed in pretty summer outfits.
Thanks all for the information...

[Larzen]

Crown Prince Frederik will take part 4-8th of july (well it only last until the 7th)
D.K.H. Kronprinsparret - D.K.H. Kronprinsen og Kronprinsessens kalender

the Queen and Prince consort of Denmark takes part 4-8th of july
Kongehuset - Aktuelt - Kalender

The King, Queen and Crown Princess of Sweden will take part atleast on the 4th (they have notohing more schedueled after this so maybe they consider the rest private) the swedish royal house needs to check out the maps, Stavanger is quite a way from Oslo
Kalender - Kungahuset

[Princess Robijn]

Didn't it first say Crown Princess Mary would be there?

[carlota]

such a shame this celebrations won't be as grand as harald's although expected. will there be official pictures with the royals and maybe a gala?

i'm glad some royals started confirming their assistance. can't wait for the celebrations and hopefully to see lots of royals in norway.

[Martha]

is there a official guest list for 70th birthday celebrations?

[Larzen]

...
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark is only expected to attend the dinner since he is taking part in a regatta in Hankø the day after.
....
There are no royal guests expected from Britain for the gala dinner and following cruise.
...
But the Dutch and Belgian royal houses are sending representatives, and royalty from Luxembourg, who are closely related to the Norway's monarchy, will be in Stavanger.
....
For security reasons there would not be any confirmation about the royal guests from Spain until much nearer the date of the birthday celebrations.
....
it remains to be seen if there will be room for grandchildren.
Royal guest list taking shape- Aftenposten.no

[lucien]

Program for the 70th birthday celebrations of HM Queen Sonja,July 4th - July 6th.

kongehuset.no - Accreditation: HM The Queen’s birthday celebration

Courtesy NRH.

[Larzen]

One of the local papers, Rogalands Avis, has gotten their hands on the landing times at The Sun and it dicloses some of the royal that will attend

2 July
15.10 Märtha Louise and Ari Behn
18.10 Mette-Marit and Haakon

3 July
It says Mary and Christian will arrive at 9.30 by a normal plane from Copenhagen but it seems their attendance has been cancelled since this list was made
12.15 Prince Astrid and Johan Martin Ferner
12.30 Silvia and Carl Gustav by Private Military Jet
13.00 Victoria by normal Plane (yes it sucks to be the heir )
14.02 Queen Anne Marie
15.00 Queen Beatrix and Princess Maxima by Private plane
Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde
Møt de kongelige på Sola - rogalandsavis.no

the airport manager do not want to comment on this list.


According to Se pg Hør it is mainly women who are comming, Maxima will not bring WA, and it seems also Maria Teresa is comming alone
Damene feirer Sonja - Forsiden - www.seher.no

[BeatrixFan]

The question is, if it's mainly women - will it be Alexandra or Camilla from Great Britain?

[Larzen]

The UK is not sending anyone according to Aftenposten