Article from the daily Yomiuri (first seen on the crown princess Mary board). Here is the part on Haakon:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20050415wo42.htm
Nordic royals prepare for life of duty
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Young, vivacious, positive--a Nordic crown prince and crown princess ready themselves to face the challenge of modern monarchy.
In exclusive interviews with The Yomiuri Shimbun, Swedish Crown Princess Victoria and Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon emphasized their eagerness to take on the challenges of being a 21st century monarch. Both gave their views on marriage, royal responsibility, current affairs, politics and their roles in contemporary society.
They both visited Japan earlier this month to attend 2005 World Exposition Aichi for their countries' national days--Sweden's on April 6 and Norway's April 11.
Crown Prince Haakon was speaking in Oslo to Shuichi Habu, chief of The Yomiuri Shimbun's European General Bureau. Crown Princess Victoria met with Mikio Ikuma, Yomiuri Shimbun staff writer, at the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo.
Best known outside Norway for his 2001 wedding to a single mother with a 4-year-old child, four years later Crown Prince Haakon has grown into a serious-looking and mature heir to the throne, wearing a neatly trimmed beard and mustache.
"I was so happy when we had our first baby," the crown prince said with a smile. The child, Ingrid Alexandra, is now 1 year old and second in line to the throne. Norway amended its Constitution in 1990 to give the firstborn daughter the right of succession.
Talking at the Norwegian Royal Palace in Oslo a few days before his arrival in Japan, he emphasized that he and his wife, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, would not give their daughter any special education, even though one day she will be head of state.
"I was educated in public schools and went to the United States because I wanted to study politics. I want our daughter to choose whatever she wants to study," Prince Haakon said.
"Having a family is great, because the family is the cornerstone of my life. After I became a father, I became more concerned with the future and paid more attention to the way society works and environmental issues," he said. Prince Haakon is, very open-minded, as are his counterparts in other Nordic royal families, and he does not shy away from controversy.
"The Norwegian monarchy is a young monarchy, only 100 years old. Yet we have 100 years of tradition to build on. That is something. We would like to bring the best of tradition into the future. But at the same time we should be a monarchy for our time. Openness is one of the factors that play into that," he said.
At the same time, Prince Haakon also is intent on challenging tradition. "We made the decision to open up quite a bit on the way the monarchy works and also to focus on some issues that have been less focused on before. We have different ethnic groups in our country and people think it is very important that women and men should have the same opportunities. I think we change the way the monarchy works as society around us changes," he said.
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