Been a bit busy lately (hmm, that has actually been the case since the end of February, hence my limited time here these days), so I haven't had time to go through this, but let's do it now:
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Crown Princess Mette-Marit will be on her "Literature Journey" again - on May 8 and 9. The Palace has released the programme of the two days today:
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kongehuset: Kronprinsessens Bokbane 8. og 9. mai 2019 **
translation **
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Yes, on April 26th, the court announced on The RH-website that the ''literature train'' (CP MM's 2-3 day annual train-journey through parts of Norway [since 2014] to promote her interest in literature to young people, where she interviews authors along the various stops and talks about personal stuff such as her father's alcohol problems) would this year become the ''literature metro.'' It was stated that The Crown Princess would be accompanied by her husband along the route which would take them from Kolsås in Bærum (a neighbouring municipality of Oslo) to Stovner in Oslo on May 8-9th, stopping for events at six libraries along the line, where CP MM's usual job of interviewing the authors would be taken over by NRK presenter, Silje Nordnes.
The court was then approached by the media who wanted to know ''why?'' Well, surprise, surprise, they said it was ''due to The Crown Princess' health condition.''
Read more in this Royal Central article (
link) from April 26th, written by Norwegian Royal Commentator, Oskar Aanmoen, which includes a translation of what CP MM said about this year's literature-metro in a note to the tabloid VG (Norway's largest online news-website and second-largest print newspaper, known as very pro-monarchy).
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Crown Princess Mette-Marit made a short video message prior to her literature journey this week, probably recorded during
last week's event.
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Video **
Thanks!
Translation of what she said in the video: ''This year, the literature train has become the literature metro. And I'm really looking forward to it. We'll travel from west to east and end up at Stovner Library, and visit six libraries along the way. And we have with us writers and people who are happy to read, who will talk about important things. We're going to talk about the climate and environment, we're going to talk about fantasy literature, we're going to talk about body and gender, and we're going to talk about growing up. (Yes, I know I don't need to repeat ''we're going to'' all the time, but it was what she said!)
And not least, we are going to hear from some of the most fun hip-hop people about how it is to write hip-hop texts. That, I'm really looking forward to. And I hope you want to join us.''
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Day 2 of the book tour today, May 9, and once again Crown Prince Haakon was present as well:
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kongehuset: Bokbanen på vei østover **
gettyimages gallery **
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And The Crown Princess has been her usual warm and engaging self during all these events, visibly moved by the various interviews with the authors.
Read more about the programme and a bit about what Her Royal Highness said in her speeches (which she writes herself BTW) in this Royal Central article (
link) from May 10th, also written by Norwegian Royal Commentator, Oskar Aanmoen.
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About her health: Yes, she was, of course, asked about it by the reporters present.
May 8th: She said she was ''incredibly glad'' that her form seemed to be holding that particular day, but that she ''was very tired.'' The Crown Prince BTW had to step in for her and held the last speech (which was why he was there in the first place).
May 9th: She said she had ''to take one day at a time,'' but that she ''was very happy'' that she had managed these two days, despite being ''helt utslitt'' (completely exhausted). - Especially since the literature events ''mean so much'' to her.
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Media coverage: Several news-clips (on the various TV-news), articles, hordes of journalists and unsurprisingly nothing but praise for the severely ill Crown Princess.
VG-video of the first 30 min of the journey which included one of several press-meetings (
link).
NRK videos from day 1 (
link) and day 2 (
link).
BTW: Be aware that this was a regular metro-ride with travelling passengers, so The CP-Couple's ''Royal Police Escort officers'' (which one can read more about in the last part of this post -
link) were therefore quite visible throughout the route.
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And on an endnote: I must say she impresses me, 28 engagements (with these six events) since we got the news about her illness on October 24th, not bad at all.
Thanks polyesco!
