80th Birthday Celebrations of King Harald V and Queen Sonja

[ROYAL NORWAY]

Pictures from the preparations at the palace:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTtvSPal...norskekongehus

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTtvtwRl...norskekongehus

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTtvfyDl...norskekongehus

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTwGZAEF...norskekongehus

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTwKZTXl...norskekongehus

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTwK2bNF...norskekongehus

https://www.instagram.com/p/BT07rwUF...norskekongehus

https://www.instagram.com/p/BT09G6xF...norskekongehus

https://scontent-arn2-1.xx.fbcdn.net...cc&oe=59C15755

[Al_bina]

Originally Posted by Kingen

THE GUEST LIST

Kongeparets 80-årsdager: Gjesteliste - kongehuset.no

Thanks for the information!
It is odd that The Countess of Wessex will attend without Prince Edward, and Princess Charlene chose not to attend at all.
I am looking forward to seeing gala dresses and tiaras. Hopefully Queen Maxima will wear a dress by Jan Taminiau.

[Dman]

I think it's important to remember the royals don't put importance of age of the participants of the the party when it comes to celebrations like this.

For some odd reasons, the British royals like sending lesser senior royals to events like this.

[Mbruno]

Originally Posted by Dman

I think it's important to remember the royals don't put importance of age of the participants of the the party when it comes to celebrations like this.

For some odd reasons, the British royals like sending lesser senior royals to events like this.

Charles used to attend "events like this". He was present at the weddings of the Duke of Brabant, the Prince of Orange, and the Prince of Asturias. He also attended the funeral of Prince Claus of the Netherlands, if I am not mistaken. Since approximately 2005, he has not attended overseas royal gatherings, except for King Willem-Alexander's inauguration in 2013, which he had to attend as the heir to the British throne. Any thoughts why ?

[shereeclaire]

Looking through the Court Circular, many senior members of the BRF have engagements on 9 and 10 May, so they are unable to attend the events. William, Kate and Harry hardly ever attends foreign events, unless it has to do with important state affairs, much to the disappointment of international media.

[Dman]

Originally Posted by Mbruno

Charles used to attend "events like this". He was present at the weddings of the Duke of Brabant, the Prince of Orange, and the Prince of Asturias. He also attended the funeral of Prince Claus of the Netherlands, if I am not mistaken. Since approximately 2005, he has not attended overseas royal gatherings, except for King Willem-Alexander's inauguration in 2013, which he had to attend as the heir to the British throne. Any thoughts why ?

It's very understandable when the most senior royals can't attend foreign royal events due to scheduled engagements elsewhere. When this isn't the case, I think the most senior royals should attend.

[TRCRoyal]

I don't understand why Charlene is not going!

[Marengo]

No surprise from the Windsors, we have gotten used to this behavior over the years.

Nobody from Liechtenstein on the guest list, though I do not believe they have ever been present at previous celebrations in Norway. I am surprised not to see Prince Hassan and Princess Sarvath of Jordan, they always seem to be invited to these occassions. Very few non-reigning royals on the guest list. I think this is one of the first times that Queen Anne-Marie attends such a celebration without her husband.

[ROYAL NORWAY]

King Harald has an incredible position here in Norway (as you can see in all the articles I have posted here) and as several commentators say here in Norway, he is without doubt the most popular head of state (along with Elizabeth II) in his own country. And the monarchy has record suport rigth now despite the bad choices of the CP-couple.

I wrote 3 long posts about the personal popularity of Norway's 3 monarchs and their impact on the popularity of the Norwegian monarchy and scandals who have threatened it in the Republic/monarchy thread - read them here:
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...ml#post1981079

I also wrote a post where I went through all polls on the Norwegian monarchy - read here: http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...ml#post1973364

But as I've written in these two posts:
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...ml#post1962424
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...ml#post1973448
Norway is a country where the Law of Jante is still very present. And therefore, we will not see thousands of peolpe on the streets tomorrow. It did not happen during the round birthdays of King Olav either. There were a lot of people on the streets during the Silver Wedding Anniversary in 1993 and during the 60th Birthdays in 1997. There were also people at the palace square to see the royal family on the balcony and the fireworks displays late in the evening on February 24, 2007 for the King's 70th birthdays celebrations, but it would be an exaggeration to call it crowds. There were maybe 1000 people.

But we were surprised on January 17th last year for the Silver Jubilee. 40-50 thousand people showed up in the freezing weather. The other times we have seen crowds like that was for King Haakon's 80th birthday in 1952 and the weddings in 1968 and 2001.

[An Ard Ri]

Originally Posted by duke of poliganc

i'm a little bit disappointed that prince albert will go solo i was hopping that at least princess caroline will go with him .

Yes I am too no Princess Charlene at yet another tiara opportunity!

[QueenPenny]

Originally Posted by Mbruno

I am actually disappointed that the Prince of Wales is not attending the gala dinner given that, according to other posters, he has no scheduled events on that day and he seems to be very close to King Harald and Queen Sonja.

I guess there may be some truth after all to the theory that Charles may feel uncomfortable in events where younger European kings are present.

Knowing that he will not be king until his mother dies (ie she will most likely never abdicate), I get the impression that Charles would rather have his mother alive & well than the title. The ages of younger kings does not enter into it IMO. But I would like to see him & Camilla attend.

ROYAL NORWAY - Thank you for all of the information, pictures, translated articles!

[stef]

Originally Posted by Marengo

No surprise from the Windsors, we have gotten used to this behavior over the years.

Nobody from Liechtenstein on the guest list, though I do not believe they have ever been present at previous celebrations in Norway. I am surprised not to see Prince Hassan and Princess Sarvath of Jordan, they always seem to be invited to these occassions. Very few non-reigning royals on the guest list. I think this is one of the first times that Queen Anne-Marie attends such a celebration without her husband.

A month ago I was fortunate to speak with King Constantine and Queen Anne- Marie, I was very happy to see that the King is quite well, despite all his health problems . I think it is logical that the king is not in this type of acts, his main problem is in walking, he has many problems in one of his legs, when he climbs stairs, he has many pains, it is logical that he is not in this event..The Greek royal house has an important representation besides the Queen, the Crown Prince and Princess MC and Prince Nikolaos and Princess Tatiana But I am also very surprised by the absence of other real houses.

[ROYAL NORWAY]

Originally Posted by QueenPenny

ROYAL NORWAY - Thank you for all of the information, pictures, translated articles!

You're very welcome! And thanks (again) to all those who uses the thanks button.

As I've said before on this thread (although my mother is British and I'm a big fan/follower of the British royal family), I couldn't care less about who they sent or not.

The most important thing for me is to have the Danes, Swedes, Finns and Icelanders here.

But I have to say I'm impressed with the turnout from the Netherlands. And yes, I know they are close to the Norwegian royal family, but sending the monarch, consort, the former monarch and two other members are not bad.

[cepe]

What we see on the royal schedules only reflects public engagements. It in no way shows what their work schedule entails not does it show events that have special security issues.

[ROYAL NORWAY]

Originally Posted by cepe

What we see on the royal schedules only reflects public engagements. It in no way shows what their work schedule entails not does it show events that have special security issues.

Exactly! And I don't understand what the problem is? Sophie will attend and that's more than enough for me.

[RoyalHighness 2002]

I'm confused, how is The Countess of Wessex a lesser royal. Technically she is the third highest lady in the land according to the official court precedence but for some reason the Duchess of Cambridge is ahead of her at most events. She may not be popular and as followed, but that doesn't make her a junior royal.

[Curryong]

No offence against Sophie but I have to say I am quite disappointed that Charles and Camilla aren't going to attend this important event held in Norway, especially as it's always been said that the BRF are close to the Norwegian Royal family.

I have been on other forums this morning and it is the talk of one large international one. The impression there is that the BRF have an 'exceptionality' image of themselves, that they hold themselves aloof from other European monarchies and rarely mix with them.

While I do not think that's true privately, it makes it hard to argue the opposite when other European Kings and Queens, Crown Princes and heirs (not just the Scandinavians who are close anyway but others) happily accept invitations, turn up and thoroughly enjoy themselves.

The Prince of Wales keeping away also feeds into stories that have been around for years that Charles dislikes going to these events because several of his younger contemporaries are now of a higher rank.

I know the Wessexes have a really good relationship with other royals. However, I love seeing all the Kings, Queens and their heirs turning up for these sorts of events and mixing with each other.

It wouldn't have hurt for Charles and Cam and/or the Cambridges to have turned up to King Willem Alexander's recent birthday celebrations, for example, especially as it's always been said that Beatrix and Elizabeth are close. Instead no one apart from the Wessexes went.

William is going to be King one day. What do he and Kate know of their contemporaries in Europe and Scandinavia? Nothing. They didn't even recognise Daniel of Sweden when he came up to greet them at the London Olympics. It was left to Sophie to say hello to him, or he would have been inadvertently snubbed.

This isn't having a go at the Cambridges or the Wessexes. It's just that the absence of some members of the BRF at gatherings of other royals of similar rank is an opportunity lost, IMHO.

[Skippyboo]

Kate has already made a solo trip to the Netherlands. She is going to Luxembourg on Thursday. The government has started sending the Cambridges to Europe now instead of them going to Commonwealth countries. Who knows if the Cambridges have even met Daniel? Did the foreign royals go the BP lunch at their wedding? Wasn't that why there was the shin dig the night before because the foreign royals weren't invited to BP? If they did meet after the wedding, it was briefly and they would have met hundreds of other people that day. So it would be quite easy for them not to recognize Daniel and CP at the Olympics.

[gerry]

Originally Posted by ROYAL NORWAY

You're very welcome!

I'm watching the king on TV2 news channel now. It's the Liberation/Veterans Day in Norway and the King is present at Akershus palace.

I did not have time to translate the NRK article, so I chose this short article instead:
https://www.abcnyheter.no/nyheter/20...okreise-i-gave

How lovely that Margaret Atwood is included; are there copies available of her text?

[Curryong]

But that's the point Skippyboo, isn't it, in a nutshell? If more members of the BRF mixed and mingled with other Royal families they would have recognised them. It's not as if Daniel and CP are nobodies. They are senior Swedish royals.

I've already said that I'm not having a go at the Cambridges, the Wessexes or anybody else, just mourning the lack of mixing with their contemporaries of the BRF members at various celebratory events held by monarchs of other countries. As Ive said in my other post, it leads onlookers to regard the BRF as acting as if they are above other Royal houses.