ROYAL NORWAY
Heir Apparent
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King Olav V's eighth Prime Minister, Kåre Willoch (from the Conservative Party), turned 90 on Wednesday.
He was PM from 1981 to 1986. - Read his English Wikipedia profile here (especially the ''After retirement from national politics'' part).
About him: Well, after he stepped down as county-governor of Oslo and Akershus in 1998, he went from being regarded as a ''very conservative, cold and strict politician'' to become ''Hele Norges Kåre Willoch'' (''The Whole of Norway's Kåre Willoch'').
Although widely criticized for his STRONG support for the palestinians and his controversial remarks about Israel, he has been praised for his work for low-income people, the weak in society in general - and the rights for people with Down's syndrome (due to his grandson, Philip, who suffers from it).
And despite the fact that cancer was discovered in 2016, he remains in remarkably good health, which is (according to himself) due to his equally healthy and vigorous 89-year-old wife of 64 years, Anne Marie, ''being a former nurse.'' - And he still travels around the country with his EXTREMELY posh, old-fashioned and distinctive Oslo-West-End dialect, giving lectures, writing books, giving television/newspaper-interviews and participating in debates.
He is described by some in the media as ''Norges fremste orakel'' (''Norway's foremost oracle'') due to his immense intellect, and is therefore used as a royal/political expert/commentator on everything from royal celebrations (the latest one being The Regent-Couple's Golden Wedding Anniversary in August) to terrorist attacks, climate change, political issues in Norway and a range of other countries - and ''of course'' Trump.
And as Harald Stanghelle, the outgoing editor of the Liberal conservative Newspaper Aftenposten, writes in the article below: ''When Kåre Willoch left the Storting after 32 years in 1989, it became the start of the most unexpected political one-man show in Norwegian history."
REALLY worth a read for everyone who speaks Scandinavian languages, especially the ''Folkelig kjærlighet'' (''folksy love'') part. - And I hope the English speaking majority here get something out of the google-translation: 90-åringen Kåre Willoch er noe så selvmotsigende som en folkekjær ener | Jubilanten er et unikt nasjonalt fenomen. - Aftenposten - translation.
Well, I'm not done, because we have to talk a bit about his stance on the monarchy as well: He is known as a STRONG monarchist, and there's been more than one republican who's been TOLD OFF (I mean literally, because he's by no means a diplomat, far from it actually). - And he was also among the very few in the Storting/Government who were positive to a wedding betwen CP Harald & Sonja Haraldsen in the 1960s, but as the youngest member of the government (Minister of Trade from 1965 to 1970), he didn't ''dare to go against the older ministers.''
He was also a vocal supporter of the relationship between CP Haakon & Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby - and attacked the media for the way they treated her (MM, I mean).
Here are two photos of him with his grandson, Philip (he, I mentioned above) - and his wife, Anne Marie (who's in the second one), which was both taken in November 2017: pic 1 - pic 2
And here's a short facebook video of them from the same year.
So, congratulations to Kåre (from me, a Labour supporter) who truly is as VG wrote the other day, ''uerstattelig for Norge'' (''irreplaceable for Norway''). - And he is, without doubt, my second favourite Norwegian person, a spot he shares with the late Thorvald Stoltenberg (which I wrote about in post 46) and the amazing Wenche Foss. My number one is the King of course (surprise, surprise).
He was PM from 1981 to 1986. - Read his English Wikipedia profile here (especially the ''After retirement from national politics'' part).
About him: Well, after he stepped down as county-governor of Oslo and Akershus in 1998, he went from being regarded as a ''very conservative, cold and strict politician'' to become ''Hele Norges Kåre Willoch'' (''The Whole of Norway's Kåre Willoch'').
Although widely criticized for his STRONG support for the palestinians and his controversial remarks about Israel, he has been praised for his work for low-income people, the weak in society in general - and the rights for people with Down's syndrome (due to his grandson, Philip, who suffers from it).
And despite the fact that cancer was discovered in 2016, he remains in remarkably good health, which is (according to himself) due to his equally healthy and vigorous 89-year-old wife of 64 years, Anne Marie, ''being a former nurse.'' - And he still travels around the country with his EXTREMELY posh, old-fashioned and distinctive Oslo-West-End dialect, giving lectures, writing books, giving television/newspaper-interviews and participating in debates.
He is described by some in the media as ''Norges fremste orakel'' (''Norway's foremost oracle'') due to his immense intellect, and is therefore used as a royal/political expert/commentator on everything from royal celebrations (the latest one being The Regent-Couple's Golden Wedding Anniversary in August) to terrorist attacks, climate change, political issues in Norway and a range of other countries - and ''of course'' Trump.
And as Harald Stanghelle, the outgoing editor of the Liberal conservative Newspaper Aftenposten, writes in the article below: ''When Kåre Willoch left the Storting after 32 years in 1989, it became the start of the most unexpected political one-man show in Norwegian history."
REALLY worth a read for everyone who speaks Scandinavian languages, especially the ''Folkelig kjærlighet'' (''folksy love'') part. - And I hope the English speaking majority here get something out of the google-translation: 90-åringen Kåre Willoch er noe så selvmotsigende som en folkekjær ener | Jubilanten er et unikt nasjonalt fenomen. - Aftenposten - translation.
Well, I'm not done, because we have to talk a bit about his stance on the monarchy as well: He is known as a STRONG monarchist, and there's been more than one republican who's been TOLD OFF (I mean literally, because he's by no means a diplomat, far from it actually). - And he was also among the very few in the Storting/Government who were positive to a wedding betwen CP Harald & Sonja Haraldsen in the 1960s, but as the youngest member of the government (Minister of Trade from 1965 to 1970), he didn't ''dare to go against the older ministers.''
He was also a vocal supporter of the relationship between CP Haakon & Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby - and attacked the media for the way they treated her (MM, I mean).
Here are two photos of him with his grandson, Philip (he, I mentioned above) - and his wife, Anne Marie (who's in the second one), which was both taken in November 2017: pic 1 - pic 2
And here's a short facebook video of them from the same year.
So, congratulations to Kåre (from me, a Labour supporter) who truly is as VG wrote the other day, ''uerstattelig for Norge'' (''irreplaceable for Norway''). - And he is, without doubt, my second favourite Norwegian person, a spot he shares with the late Thorvald Stoltenberg (which I wrote about in post 46) and the amazing Wenche Foss. My number one is the King of course (surprise, surprise).