Posted by
Anne in
Mette-Marit on
03 5th, 2010 |
no responses 
Crown Princess Mette-Marit was interviewed in the Norwegian publication Natt & Dag. Here is a link to the original interview, including pictures.
I have translated bits of the interview.
(more…)
Posted by
Anne in
Haakon on
03 2nd, 2010 |
no responses The Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry, Trond Giske, is in the middle of assembling a council of young business leaders to give advice where Norway should focus its efforts in the future.
This weekend, it was revealed that Crown Prince Haakon had accepted a position on this council. It ended up with a bit of debate in the papers, where some thought it was a good idea, whereas others thought that it might not be the best thing. The Norwegian monarchy is supposed to be politically neutral, or as politically neutral as they can get.
This would have been moderately fine, if only Giske had asked the Prime Minister about the situation beforehand, and set boundaries as to what the Crown Prince could work with. But he did not do the first thing. (No information on the latter item.) It would still have been problematic regarding the royal house being political neutral, but at least the Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, would not have been caught unaware on the issue.
As a result of the media problems this matter has caused (presumably to Giske, as he’s been the hardest hit by the critique) he has gone in a dialogue with the Palace, and the latest news is that the Crown Prince has withdrawn from the council.
What a fantastic start King Carl XVI Gustaf, Queen Silvia and Prince Carl Phlilip have had on their stay at the Olympic Games in Canada.
After arriving from a long haul flight their schedule started off with watching the Swedish curling ladies beat the Chinese team 6-4 late night Friday local time.
On Saturday they continued on to watch Anja Pärson, who had a scary crash just a few days ago and is suffering injuries while trying to stay on competing in what is believed to be her last Olympics, in the ladies Super-G. Pärson’s brave attempt to claim her 7th Olympic medal did not pull through. She ended on an 11th place after a small mistake early in the race, and afterwards said that she had problem with the feeling in her legs.
On the VIP stands the Royal Couple and the Prince met Prince Albert of Monaco and his girlfriend Charlene Wittstock.
Seated a little bit in front of them were also the German high aristocratic defence minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and his wife Stephanie, born Countess von Bismarck-Schönhausen.
The royals stayed active on their seats, both the King and the Prince took photos and the King and Queen took turns looking through binoculars. (more…)
Posted by
Anne in
Books,
Harald V on
02 20th, 2010 |
one response 
From time to time, interesting picture books for children pop up on the Norwegian market. Some of the time the subject is the royal family. One such excellent book was Olavs første skitur by Tor Bomann-Larsen.
A new one in this category is Kongen som må ut å hente melk by Tora Marie Norberg. (Translation of title: The King who has to go get milk)
The essence of the story is that the King (who bears a fair likeness to King Harald) discover at the breakfast table that he does not have any milk left for his breakfast. So he goes to the royal farm at Bygdøy, only to have problems when he tries to milk the royal cows. It results in him having to go to the store to get the milk there instead.
It is a cute story, and the variety of the illustration, and words, make it a fun read. The play on words – starting the sentence on the page the Queen appears with the words Sånn Ja (the pronunciation of Sonja), and the details of the drawings makes it a fun read also for adults.
The story does require a certain amount of suspending reality, as I don’t think it is very likely that the King cleans all the rooms in the Palace by himself before heading off for bed.
But it is a fun read, and definitely something I would consider reading for young children.
Already earlier in the winter, Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling approved the photo and design of the stamp that will be issued in time for their wedding in June this year. On Thursday (18 February) they visited the Swedish Post’s offices in Kista outside Stockholm to see the outcome of engraver Lars Sjööblom’s work and the printing process which is now under way. The result? We normal people have to wait to see it until 13 May when the stamp is officially presented.
Denomination will be 6 SEK, meaning domestic, but with two stamps one can send mail with the future Crown Princess Couple wherever in the world one may want too. No photographers were allowed to cover the couple’s inspection visit so there are not many photos apart from the Post’s own one, but click here and you can see a few taken outside the building in connection with their visit.
From left: Henrik Lundin, Posten stamp printing, Lars G Nordström, CEO Posten Norden, Crown Princess Victoria, Mr Daniel Westling and Britt-Inger Hahne, head of stamps at Posten. Photo: Jörgen Hildebrandt/Posten.
Posted by
Sofia in
The Rosenborgs on
02 17th, 2010 |
no responses 
PHOTO: Hanne Juul/Billed-Bladet. Click on the photo to see the photo series on the magazine's website.
Today Count Ingolf af Rosenborg turns 70 years old and can look back at a long life that was not always easy and one that took some rather unusual turns before reaching today’s happy and more harmonious point…
As the second child and first son of Hereditary Prince Knud and Princess Caroline-Mathilde of Denmark, Ingolf Christian Frederik Knud Harald Gorm Gustav Viggo Valdemar Aage was born as as a Prince of Denmark at Sorgenfri Palace on 17 February 1940. (more…)
Being a country without mountains and noticeable snow during the winter (except for this year, we’ve had snow since half december…) the Netherlands aren’t likely to win a lot of medals during the Winter Olympics. Luckily for us, we’re a country full of people who are obsessed with speed skating, so we normally gather our share of medals during the speed skating tournament. This year we’re keeping our fingers crossed for speed skater Sven Kramer, who has won everything that can be won on an international level during the last couple of years. (more…)
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