$Unique_ID{COW02682} $Pretitle{436} $Title{Norway Harald - King of Norway} $Subtitle{} $Author{Eyvind Fjeld Halvorsen} $Affiliation{Embassy of Norway, Washington DC} $Subject{prince harald king crown norway years princess born father haakon} $Date{1990} $Log{} Country: Norway Book: Fact Sheets on Norway Author: Eyvind Fjeld Halvorsen Affiliation: Embassy of Norway, Washington DC Date: 1990 Harald - King of Norway Norway is a constitutional monarchy where the constitution called for the throne to be passed down agnatically, through the male side of the family. This law was changed in May 1990. According to the new law men and women shall have equal right to the Norwegian throne. The law was passed with one important exception. For those born before 1990 the law favouring the male heir still applies. When then Crown Prince Olav assumed the throne after his father, King Haakon, who died in the early hours of 21 September, 1957, he became the first Norwegian king to automatically inherit the crown without a referendum, conflicts, power plays or threats of removal from rival nobility. The line of succession, a symbol of the tradition, continuity and stability inherit in the monarchy, is secured for two more generations through King Olav's son, Crown Prince Harald, and his grandson, Prince Haakon Magnus, son of Harald. Harald has now taken the monarch's role as King Harald the fifth. The third child and only son of Crown Prince Olav and Crown Princess Martha, Prince Harald came into this world on a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon at 12:45 p.m. 21 February, 1937 at Skaugum, the royal residence of the crown prince and princess in Asker outside Oslo. Harald was the first prince to be born in Norway in 566 years. From the moment of his birth, the prince's raising, education and training were planned in preparation of the day he would become king. Modern monarchy The monarchy has undergone great changes in Norway since it was re-established in 1905 by Harald's grandfather, King Haakon VII, the former Danish prince, following the peaceful dissolution of Norway's union with Sweden. In the over 50 years King Haakon reigned through two world wars and vast political and economic change, the modern constitutional monarchy established deep roots as it adapted to the times and tasks that lay at hand. King Olav was born in England in 1903 and was two years old when he arrived in Norway on his father's arm. A widower since the early death of his wife, Princess Martha of Sweden, King Olav maintained a balance between royal dignity and jovial folksiness. As king, Harald can claim even closer, native ties to Norway. Born on Norwegian soil, educated in the public school system, and married to the former Sonja Haraldsen, Harald is, in a word, Norway's first truly "home-grown" sovereign in over 600 years. Nonetheless, there are many similarities between King Olav and King Harald. For example, both men pursued military careers, and, like his father, the new monarch loves sports, especially skiing and sailing. King Olav's sincere interest in the health and welfare of his subjects and his open ear to the problems of society's less fortunate members have been passed on to his son. Likewise, the king's personal warmth, easy manner, boundless capacity for work, and total devotion in serving his country are Harald's very same trademarks. Early years During WWII, Prince Harald, his two sisters and mother lived in exile in the USA, where he attended two years of primary school before the family was able to return to Norway after the liberation in 1945. In Norway, he continued his education at Smestad School and 'Katedralen', Norway's oldest upper secondary school. As a schoolboy, Prince Harald was as active as any, taking part in plays and sports and social organizations, and receiving better than average grades. A good singer, the prince displayed no fear in performing before an audience. He passed the general preliminary examination to study at the University of Oslo but instead entered the Norwegian Cavalry Officers' School in January, 1956, where he completed his 16 months of active military services. From there he went on to the same Military Academy his father had attended 36 years earlier. He graduated on 28 August, 1959, with the rank of Lieutenant. Later, he held the rank of Captain of both the Army and Air Force and Lt. Captain in the Navy. In 1977, he was promoted to General of the Army, Admiral of the Navy and General of the Air Force. After his grandfather died, the young prince's official duties began to mount. Just six days after King Haakon passed away, Harald, now the crown prince, attended his first cabinet meeting with his father. Five months later, on his twenty-first birthday in 1958, he swore his allegiance to the Norwegian Constitution. One month before he entered Balliol College in Oxford, in October, 1960, the young price paid an official visit to the US. At Balliol, Prince Harald studied, like his father, economics, political science and history for two years. A determined athlete, he made the Balliol first eight rowing team. Sailing has long traditions in Norway's royal family and Harald, like his father, has taken numerous trophies in national and international competitions, competing in the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics. An ardent outdoors-man, Norway's new king is as passionate about his fishing and hunting as he is about protecting the balance of nature that true sportsmen know is essential to sustain wildlife. The prince takes a wife Even though both of Harald's sisters had married commoners, the marriage of a crown prince to a commoner was unheard of in the 1960s. King Olav's decision to permit Prince Harald's marriage to Sonja Haraldsen and still retain his right to the throne was a difficult one to make. The handsome young prince had been paired off by the media with every eligible princess in Europe. But after nearly nine years of secret courtship, Harald and Sonja were united in marriage on 29 August, 1968. The King himself gave away the bride, who emerged from the church in Asker as Crown Princess Sonja. Sonja and Harald are the parents of two children, Princess Martha Louise, born 22 September, 1971 and named after her grandmother, and Prince Haakon Magnus, born 20 July, 1973. As crown prince and crown princess, Harald and Sonja maintained a diverse and tightly packed programme including several trips a year representing both the government and Norwegian industry abroad. Through their tireless efforts as ambassadors for Norway, the royal couple have opened many a new door for Norway's export industries.