I think I remember hearing Olav and Märtha actually did go consult the 1920's equivalent of a geneticist to see if it would be okay.There were more concerns about genetics and inbreeding, later on. So its quite possible that 2 first cousins who married might feel it wasn't a good idea for their children to marry first cousins.Not too bad, considering quoth Ingeborg: "I married a stranger."
I'm sure they were, but then Astrid was a very anxious and shy child who thought her mother favored Märtha and her brother, Märtha seems to have been at least anxious about her looks and not quite as confident as Astrid thought, and Carl Jr. being the spoiled baby boy didn't seem to help him. Family stuff.
This actually lends some credence to the side of Olav being Haakon's son. Because first cousins marrying is one thing, but first cousins being hypocritical and telling their child he can't do the same thing is, well. Like Harald said. "Haven't you noticed everyone around here is a little funny-looking?"
The churches of Norway and Sweden were state churches at the time and followed the national laws which had no prohibition against first cousins marrying each other.
From what I've read the relationship between the adult sisters was warm and very close. As was their relationship to their parents and their rascal brother. Margaretha, or "Tante Ta" as she was called by her younger relatives, stepped in after the deaths of her sisters to offer support, comfort and a motherly figure to her nieces and nephews. She did the same for her cousin Gustav VI Adolf after the death of their respective partners and by all accounts remained the heart of her extended family until her death in 1977.
Funnily enough Märtha was a princess of Norway between her birth in 1901 and the dissolution of the double monarchy in 1905.
