The Future of the Norwegian Monarchy

[Blog Real]

Despite this, I think Norwegians seem to trust the monarchy as an institution. And they also trust and like King Harald V.
I think that in complicated times in history people can see the monarchy and the royal family as something that unites them. The monarchy can be a symbol of unity and continuity.

 

[Annine]

The NRF can prepare themselves by watching the court case of the Ingebrigtsen family where the father and former celebrated coach of the european, world champion and olympic Champion on 1500/5000 meter Jakob Ingebrigtsen and his european champion brothers, is accused of abusing his son and daughter, this is set for the spring (the lawyers are the same as in the Marius case) and will no doubt be a media circus with lots of international press. Then they can add 100% for the Marius case where there are more parties and many of the parties lives of/craves media attention unlike in the Ingebrigtsen case. By then they better get their ducks in order, the kids in studies, maybe abroad would be good, or in the army, and ML title less, the last I doubt. And the King alive would also be a good thing so they do not have to have a change of throne in the middle of that chaos.

 

[Annine]

I Guess this is the last one where he got 9,2 out of 10, Sonja 8,5, Haakon 8,8 , Ingrid 8,1 and Mette Marit 7,5. taken before Marius gate.

Ja, vi elsker kongen

De siste nyhetene og aktuelt stoff fra NRKS nett av lokalkontorer. Enkel oversikt over det lokale nyhetsbildet i ulike deler av landet.

www.nrk.no

The newest number from norstat via nrk

• King Harald 9,2
• Queen Sonja 8,5
• Cp Haakon 8,4
• Cp Mette-Marit 6,6
• Princess Ingrid Alexandra 7,9

Republicans gives Harald 8,2 (!)

There seems to have been one in february when Harald ha 9,3 Sonja 9, Haakon 8,8, Mette-Marit 7,4 and Ingrid 8,5)

Exactly 80 years after the royal family's return after the war, support for the monarchy is still stable. In a recent poll conducted by Norstat for NRK, 69 percent said they support the monarchy, while 19 percent want a different form of government. This is similar support to the previous poll in February.

1004 people was asked

80 år siden hjemkomsten etter krigen – se kongefamiliens egne bilder fra den historiske dagen

80 år etter at kongefamilien vendte tilbake til Norge etter 2. verdenskrig, står kong Harald sterkt i folket – også blant dem som er mot monarkiet, viser en ny måling. Nå deler kongen familiens private bilder fra den historiske dagen.

www.nrk.no

 

[tihkon2]

So no real effects felt about Marius' behavior and the enabling of that by his mother and step-father by continuing to let him live at Skaugum, etc......So no one in the family will feel the need to do anything about it.

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

I still believe it will go downhill once Haakon & MM will actually be in charge.

 

[JR76]

I still believe it will go downhill once Haakon & MM will actually be in charge.

I'm also certain that the popularity of Harald & Sonja are reflecting on their son and daughter-in-law. Once they're gone they'll have to work much harder to stay as popular.
Three things that I believe will affect their future popularity are how Marius' trial will be covered by the media, what details about the family will be revealed and how Mette-Marit's illness will play out. If the trial becomes a media mess then it'll reflect badly on the whole family while the illness are bound to give her husband and children a lot of sympathy from the public.

 

[Blog Real]

I hope that the monarchy will remain popular.
But that will depend on Haakon, Mette-Marit, Ingrid Alexandra and Sverre Magnus.
If Ingrid and Sverre behave impeccably, they will be popular.

The Marius scandal cannot get any worse. Let's see what happens.

 

[Annine]

The Norwegian Kings has always been at their most popular when they have one foot in the grave(the amount of love he and Sverre Magnus got at the soccer game in the social media was impressive) but before he was king, Harald was seen as grey and boring without the war history of his father, he was not a great speaker, and Sonja as uptight and a big spender and not very natural with an extreme posh Oslo dialect that no normal people have. She still has it, but she is not so concerned with beeing perfect anymore and laughs more, users less hair sprayand seems therefor more friendly and relaxed. And I think people now have more respect for the what she has done, especially for art and culture, and the fights she has fought silently, so beeing Perfect is not really a core quality for the Norwegian royals I would say.

No doubt the court case will be a media show and affect the popularity of the family in general, and Mette-Marit especially, and she has already suffered in the polls, with good reason, and is now way behind the rest.

But in general Norwegians have rather short memory when it comes to the royals, but I think there is also a general trend with the younger people that they question inherited power in 2025, but then most politicians are unpopular and some do stupid greedy things that reflect badly in the rest, and then we settle again for the King who everyone likes anyway. But of course people like the fantastic presidents of Finland and Iceland does show there are very good nordic options that has nothing to do with a power-president like the US, and if we started to compared on pure merit to someone like Mr Stubb, all the scandinavian royals would come out way behind and then some.

 

[Blog Real]

I hope this sad situation involving Marius is resolved soon. And that the monarchy regains its prestige and popularity.

 

[LadyFinn]

A recent poll conducted by InFact for Nettavisen shows that only 30.2 percent of those surveyed believe that Crown Princess Mette-Marit is largely suitable as the future Queen of Norway.
65.1 percent believe that Crown Prince Haakon is largely suitable as a future king, a far higher number than his wife Mette-Marit gets on the same question.

Ny meningsmåling: – Mette-Marit kom inn som «outsider»

Folk mener kronprins Haakon er bedre skikket til å ta over tronen enn Mette-Marit i en fersk meningsmåling.

www.nettavisen.no

 

[An Ard Ri]

The polling for Crown Princess Mette-Marit is rather concerning!

 

[Princess_Eleanor]

A recent poll conducted by InFact for Nettavisen shows that only 30.2 percent of those surveyed believe that Crown Princess Mette-Marit is largely suitable as the future Queen of Norway.
65.1 percent believe that Crown Prince Haakon is largely suitable as a future king, a far higher number than his wife Mette-Marit gets on the same question.

Ny meningsmåling: – Mette-Marit kom inn som «outsider»

Folk mener kronprins Haakon er bedre skikket til å ta over tronen enn Mette-Marit i en fersk meningsmåling.

www.nettavisen.no

In my opinion Haakon is lucky that he is still at 65% and should take care not to go down further.
I agree with the 70% that Mette-Marit is not suitable to be Queen.

 

[Annine]

Its worth to note that the poll ask to score on a scale from 1 to 6, where 1 is not suitable and 6 is very much suitable, Haakon has 79,3 % if you add 5 and 6 together, that is very good numbers for anyone who is polled by the public(and the people who are up for election today can only dream of such numbers) Only 5,9 % gives him 1 or 2.

Mette -Marit only has 46,6 combined for 5 and 6 and 20% gives her 1 or 2.

 

[Princess_Eleanor]

Its worth to note that the poll ask to score on a scale from 1 to 6, where 1 is not suitable and 6 is very much suitable, Haakon has 79,3 % if you add 5 and 6 together, that is very good numbers for anyone who is polled by the public(and the people who are up for election today can only dream of such numbers) Only 5,9 % gives him 1 or 2.

Mette -Marit only has 46,6 combined for 5 and 6 and 20% gives her 1 or 2.

Thank you, that gives a very different picture then!

Below 50% is never good (for a royal), but I suppose for a consort 46% won't keep you from getting the position...

Haakon's throne seems secure for now.

 

[Blog Real]

In the polls I remember seeing over the years, Mette-Marit has never been very popular.
But people seem to like Haakon. He's always been popular in the polls.

 

[Hans-Rickard]

In the polls I remember seeing over the years, Mette-Marit has never been very popular.
But people seem to like Haakon. He's always been popular in the polls.

You are right that Haakon has always been more popular than his wife… That has been the case ever since their wedding…

I’m not surprised as Haakon often works for 3 and is almost the only one that people who doesn’t live in Oslo have a chance to see..

 

[tommy100]

I think the polling in a way reflects how people might see which of the RF are most linked to the Marius case.

Even though my opinion of them has changed massively of late even I can't really fault Harald and Sonja for Marius' problems and actions. They did all that was asked of them - welcoming to the family, treating him as a grandson and also helping to secure privacy for him as someone whose life was always going to have to lie beyond "being royal". I highly doubt they had all that much to do with him on a day to day basis beyond what Haakon and MM told them and what they saw at family events when to them at least Marius was probably on best behaviour.

I think Haakon is seen as more connected to the case and the actions of Marius hence the slight dip, and likwise MM is seen as much more connected, perahps the cleaning of Marius' flat and her actions to the victims have had an impact.

Interesting that polling for MM has never been high, certainly it is unlikely to be helped with all of the issue no around her son but also I feel, without sounding disrespectful, that with the rest of the RF still getting quite high numbers despite various other issues, MM could get higher numbers if she did more public duties maybe? Maybe if she had shown better judgement around other issues e.g. her links to Epstein and that whole case of going to collect babies for friends. Or are there other reasons?

 

[Tatiana Maria]

I noticed the Consecration article has been removed with the latest revision of the Royal House's website, even though other articles in that section have been retained.

Could that be an indication that Crown Prince Haakon may choose not to be consecrated when he is King?

The old article:

Consecration

Consecration of the King is a thousand-year-old tradition in Norway. The ceremony is a solemn, ecclesiastical blessing of the King in the performance of his royal duties.

web.archive.org

 

[pkl]

I noticed the Consecration article has been removed with the latest revision of the Royal House's website, even though other articles in that section have been retained.

Could that be an indication that Crown Prince Haakon may choose not to be consecrated when he is King?

The old article:

Consecration

Consecration of the King is a thousand-year-old tradition in Norway. The ceremony is a solemn, ecclesiastical blessing of the King in the performance of his royal duties.

web.archive.org

I hope they keep a grand enthronement like that.
After Britain, it is the most impressive in Europe as it has been.

 

[Hans-Rickard]

I noticed the Consecration article has been removed with the latest revision of the Royal House's website, even though other articles in that section have been retained.

Could that be an indication that Crown Prince Haakon may choose not to be consecrated when he is King?

The old article:

Consecration

Consecration of the King is a thousand-year-old tradition in Norway. The ceremony is a solemn, ecclesiastical blessing of the King in the performance of his royal duties.

web.archive.org

It is still there in the norwegian version - but it seems to be missing in the english version…

The King of Norway is no longer the titular head of the Church of Norway since 2012 so i guess we have to wait and see how they do next time…. The ongoing health situation with Mette-Marit may also play a part…

Signingstradisjonen

Kongesigning er en tusenårig tradisjon i Norge. Seremonien er en høytidelig, kirkelig velsignelse av Kongen – og senere også Dronningen – til kongegjerningen.…

www.kongehuset.no

 

[Stefan]

I hope they keep a grand enthronement like that.
After Britain, it is the most impressive in Europe as it has been.

The dutch one is also quiet grand, but of course no religious Ceremony.
Actually i can't remember much Reports about the blessing Ceremony 1991 in the Press here in Germany at the time.

 

[pkl]

The dutch one is also quiet grand, but of course no religious Ceremony.
Actually i can't remember much Reports about the blessing Ceremony 1991 in the Press here in Germany at the time.

Norway is a small and not very "important" country though. Compared to many others, and the Norwegians was not very popular or known before Mette-Marit mania in Germany.
But when they had the seremony, I do not think there was any foreign head of state or invited royals. Not sure. But I think the ceremony is the second grandest in Europe. But there was indeed a white tie dinner held in Trondheim. Princess Ragnhild wore my obsession, the diamond tiara from Queen Maud.

 

[Stefan]

Norway is a small and not very "important" country though. Compared to many others, and the Norwegians was not very popular or known before Mette-Marit mania in Germany.
But when they had the seremony, I do not think there was any foreign head of state or invited royals. Not sure. But I think the ceremony is the second grandest in Europe. But there was indeed a white tie dinner held in Trondheim. Princess Ragnhild wore my obsession, the diamond tiara from Queen Maud.

Actually during the 1980 and 90's there were many reports about the Norwegian RF in German magazines when big Events took place

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

How can MM attend any function ever again without people being disgusted of her/taking her seriously/believing one word she says?
Can anyone of sane mind would want somebody like her as Queen representing their country on the highest level? What a travesty!

 

[Hans-Rickard]

It shouldn’t be possible but you can clearly become elected president today despite being in almost every epstein-file and there will still be millions of people around who will cheer for you you and happily vote for you regardless…

Everything seems to be possible in todays day and age….

 

[Blog Real]

The NRF now needs to get a good public relations team to take care of the NRF's image. Just like the British Royal Family did many years ago.

- Princess Mette-Marit needs to be kept away from official events as much as possible.
- Princess Ingrid Alexandra needs to participate more and more in the activities of the royal household.
- Prince Haakon must prove that one day he will be a good king for Norway.
- Harald and Sonja need to continue doing their good work, as does Princess Astrid.
- Haakon and Ingrid Alexandra could travel throughout Norway.
- Sverre Magnus could also represent the royal household more often.
- King Harald V could publicly celebrate his birthday every year, as the monarchs of Denmark and Sweden do.

And what other suggestions can we give?

 

[LadyFinn]

The NRF now needs to get a good public relations team to take care of the NRF's image.

They surely do. Articles from today, this one ends with a hopeful message:
The entire royal family is struggling now. There is a lot that needs to be cleaned up. But the monarchy does not stand and fall on this issue. It is more solid than that.

Kan monarkiet overleve dette?

Monarkiet kan overleve dype kriser, så lenge både folket ønsker å beholde det, og kongefamilien selv ønsker å fortsette.

www.vg.no

Paywall articles:
"Do we now abolish the monarchy?"

Det er nesten ikke til å tro

Kronprinsessens tette kontakt med en serieovergriper, er nesten ikke til å tro.

www.adressa.no

"Can Mette-Marit become queen after this?"

Sjaman og rettssak? Dette er verre.

Kan Mette-Marit bli dronning etter dette?

www.aftenposten.no

 

[Granada]

Blog Real, excellent points. I would totally sideline Mette as a Working Royal Representative.
She has abused and used her Position for personal gratification, much like Marius, in my opinion. Luxurious and pampered lifestyle, with little hard work behind it. NONE, in her sons case.

I would insist that Sverre Magnus find "some kind of calling". A credible Position. He is 20 years old now, but seems aimless with no career ambition.
If he isn't University material, that's fine, direct him elsewhere and put him to use. The Family could certainly use the help and positive image. As would he. The family situation unfolding now because of Maurius and his Mother's Epstein revelations, must be hard on him too.
Because with M.L. and The Shaman shenanigans and the utter debacle that is unraveling around Mette they need to really shore up, get straight and use him for good purposes.

 

[Blog Real]

On Tuesday, the Storting (Norway Council) will again consider proposals to decide whether Norway should remain a monarchy or become a republic. Development Minister Åsmund Aukrust (Labour Party) is among those who advocate for the abolition of the monarchy.

Han sitter ved kongens bord. Nå vil han avvikle monarkiet

ENDRE GRUNNLOVEN: Utviklingsministeren møter kongen i statsråd. Nå vil Åsmund Aukrust (Ap) avvikle monarkiet, igjen.

www.vl.no

Local politicians support the monarchy: – It's pathetic how some people are trying to use this issue to promote themselves.
The Crown Princess's connection to Jeffrey Epstein does not determine how local lawmakers vote on monarchy as a form of government.

Lokale politikere støtter monarkiet: – Patetisk hvordan enkelte forsøker å bruke denne saken

Kronprinsessens tilknytning til Jeffrey Epstein avgjør ikke hva lokale stortingsrepresentanter stemmer om monarki som styreform.

www.aftenbladet.no

 

[Marengo]

The reputational damage for the Norwegian monarchy is enormous, nationally but also internationally. There is a certain dignity that needs to come with the role of head-of-state. The way things are now a president as Finland and Iceland have seems much, much more dignified than the circus the Norwegian monarchy is giving their country and which seems to be getting worse by the hour.

I do not know how the monarchy in Norway works politically but in my own country and in Belgium this would have been escalated to parlament and to the level of the prime minster several times over already and would have been a political crisis with the monarchy at its center. Are the politicians on winter recess as it seems so quiet?