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$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.