Sonja and Harald's long courtship

[sm1939]

Queen sonja and King Harald , had to wait such a long time to get married ,
after so many years not being able to marry , how where they able to change the mind of the King ???? and why was he so against it in the first places??

[bbb]

http://personales.ya.com/fororeal/enfrnor.htm
i googled Queen Sonya+King Harald and got lots of hits
hope this answers some of your questions.

[hrhcp]

Originally Posted by sm1939

... and why was he so against it in the first places??

Because in Daddy's eyes, you had to get married to a real princess, not one who became princess by default upon marriage.

And then, it was a case of perservering, sticking it out to show and demonstrate the commitment, and thus waiting for Daddy to come around. At one instance, I understand that Crown Prince and his love to be 'separated', but not for long.

[norwegianne]

Originally Posted by hrhcp

Because in Daddy's eyes, you had to get married to a real princess, not one who became princess by default upon marriage.

And then, it was a case of perservering, sticking it out to show and demonstrate the commitment, and thus waiting for Daddy to come around. At one instance, I understand that Crown Prince and his love to be 'separated', but not for long.

To be fair - it wasn't just in Daddy's eyes - but a lot of the population and around in Europe. It was okay that Princess Ragnhild and Princess Astrid married commoners, as they weren't/aren't in line to the throne - though there was a bit of a spetacle with Astrid as Johan Martin Ferner'd been married and divorced before. But the Crown Prince? It was unheard of, and there were radio talk-shows and newspaper editorials and letters about Sonja's unsuitability.

[sm1939]

Originally Posted by bbb

http://personales.ya.com/fororeal/enfrnor.htm
i googled Queen Sonya+King Harald and got lots of hits
hope this answers some of your questions.

THanks for that info!

gosh! just think ifthey hadnt been allowed to marry , Norway would of missed on a fab Queen !!

[KikkiB]

Originally Posted by sm1939

THanks for that info!

gosh! just think ifthey hadnt been allowed to marry , Norway would of missed on a fab Queen !!

I doubt that we would have had the king we have either. The Glucksburg men are serious when it comes to their love.

[sm1939]

Originally Posted by KikkiB

I doubt that we would have had the king we have either. The Glucksburg men are serious when it comes to their love.

they are arent they ! Him and his son, must say also King Olav V had a passion for his wife too , its so strange that he didnt understand his son's love for Queen sonja ? and made them wait so long !!!!!!!!!!! I think it might have been diffrent if Martha has still been alife ???

[KikkiB]

Originally Posted by sm1939

they are arent they ! Him and his son, must say also King Olav V had a passion for his wife too , its so strange that he didnt understand his son's love for Queen sonja ? and made them wait so long !!!!!!!!!!! I think it might have been diffrent if Martha has still been alife ???

That might be, but at the same time Olav did marry a princess, so there weren't really an issue there. It didn't necessarily have anything to do with how strong the love was, Olav just happen to fall in love with a princess, and Harald not. And since there weren't anyone who had done that in Norway before (with the young age of the monarchy) I guess the King had to look at how such things were handeled in Europe at the time. My guess is that it was this that dragged things out for Sonja and Harald, back in the days. Lack of exprerience with such things and the people's opinion on it.

Thankfully, times have changed, so there weren't much ado (compared to the King and Queen anyway) when Haakon and Mette-Marit married. Though Haakon also threatened to give up his right to the throne, if he didn't get his way....

...which would lead to this scenario, Prince Consort Ari . Dunno how that would have worked out...

[sm1939]

Thankfully, times have changed, so there weren't much ado (compared to the King and Queen anyway) when Haakon and Mette-Marit married. Though Haakon also threatened to give up his right to the throne, if he didn't get his way....

...which would lead to this scenario, Prince Consort Ari . Dunno how that would have worked out...

Gosh ! wonder if Martha louise would of been allowed to marry Ari , if Haakon had left the throne??

[Larzen]

Originally Posted by sm1939

Gosh ! wonder if Martha louise would of been allowed to marry Ari , if Haakon had left the throne??

Im sure they would have been allowed to marry, wether Ari would have wanted the extremely restricted position it would have been beeing married to the future Queen is another matter. It would have castrated him as an author and he could not have been so outspoken and liberal as he is today. Beeing married to the Princess who is number 4 and counting in line is completely different from beeing married to number 1 in line. They lead a relativly private life, or as private as they want to, as both thrive on attention IMO.

[hrhcp]

Originally Posted by sm1939

they are arent they ! Him and his son, must say also King Olav V had a passion for his wife too , its so strange that he didnt understand his son's love for Queen sonja ? and made them wait so long !!!!!!!!!!! I think it might have been diffrent if Martha has still been alife ???

I didn't know King Olav's "passion" had been so strong about his future wife.

And that makes three of them ... with Prince Haakon avowing to pass on kingdom if he wasn't allowed to marry the fair Mette-Marit.

[Her_Majesty]

I heard King Olav didn't want to meet Sonja before 1967!
That's quite a long time! I mean, Harald and Sonja have been a couple for 8 years than!
how was Sonja's and Olav's relationship after they met?

[Anita]

Originally Posted by Her_Majesty

I heard King Olav didn't want to meet Sonja before 1967!
That's quite a long time! I mean, Harald and Sonja have been a couple for 8 years than!
how was Sonja's and Olav's relationship after they met?

I have read somewhere that King Olav didn't want to meet Sonja because he knew that if his son loved her so much, he would like her too . And he didn't want to let his personnal feelings be stronger than his sense of duty and responsability . Anyway, I think that his relationship with Sonja was very good after ! He seemed to like her very much .

[norwegianne]

It will be interesting with King Harald's biography coming out later this month, to see how he's dealt with the situation, and if he's mentioned it.

[Her_Majesty]

Originally Posted by Anita

I have read somewhere that King Olav didn't want to meet Sonja because he knew that if his son loved her so much, he would like her too . And he didn't want to let his personnal feelings be stronger than his sense of duty and responsability . Anyway, I think that his relationship with Sonja was very good after ! He seemed to like her very much .

Sounds cute.
When I look at old photos from that time Olav always looks proud of his daughter-in-law.. I think it was a nice gesture that he was walking with her into the church on Harald and Sonja's weddingday..

Originally Posted by norwegianne

It will be interesting with King Harald's biography coming out later this month, to see how he's dealt with the situation, and if he's mentioned it

will it be realeased only in norwegian or do you thing there'll be an english version, too?

[norwegianne]

Originally Posted by Her_Majesty

will it be realeased only in norwegian or do you thing there'll be an english version, too?

Probably just in Norwegian at first, at least. The Norwegian biographies are rarely translated to English.

[sm1939]

Originally Posted by norwegianne

Probably just in Norwegian at first, at least. The Norwegian biographies are rarely translated to English.

thats a shame !! pity we couldnt write to the pulisher's out in norway ! asking them to translated it to English !!

[Princess_Beatrix]

I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but I have a question:
Did King Harald and Queen Sonja have other partners before they met?

[marian]

I think that crown prince Harald was partner of princess Sophie of Greece, now Queen of Spain.

[norwegianne]

Originally Posted by marian

I think that crown prince Harald was partner of princess Sophie of Greece, now Queen of Spain.

In the press, anyway.