Norway: New Lord Chamberlain at the Royal Court

Photo: Sven Gj. Gjeruldsen, The Royal Court.

In the Council of State last Friday, 13 March 2015, the King formally appointed the Lord Chamberlain at the Royal Court, Åge Bernhard Grutle, as the new Norwegian Ambassador to Helsinki, Finland. Skrutle, b. 1952, has been in his post at the Royal Court frpom 2009. His starting date for taking over the new post as Ambassador has yet to be decided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In a press release the same day the Royal Court informed that the new Lord Chamberlain, to take office in the summer of 2015, will be the current head of the the Royal Secretariat, Chief of Staff Gry Mølleskog (b. 1962). She has been in that position since September 2012, but has also served as the Chief of Staff for the Crown Prince and Crown Princess from 2003 to 2006. Mølleskog, who comes from Bodø in the county of Nordland, has studied at the Norwegian Business School (Executive Master of Management) and has according to Linkedin an impressive CV with lots of business and leadership experience as well as many positions in various boards of directors. She has among others been Senior Vice President of SAS and Senior Client Partner in the international recruiting company Korn Ferry, where she was an consultant in recruiting and reorganisation processes for high ranking executives in larger businesses in Europe and the United States.

Mølleskog becomes the first female Lord Chamberlain at the Royal Norwegian Court and according to Nrk.no also the first female Lord Chamberlain among the European courts. Mølleskog has since 1983 been married to Thoralf Granerød, who is an associate partner at the consulting company First House (of which Per Høiby, Crown Princess Mette-Marit's brother, is the managing partner), and has one daughter.

In the same Council of State last Friday former communication director at the Royal Court, Astrid Versto, was appointed as the new Ambassador to Zagreb, Croatia. She is currently Head of Communications (development cooperation) at the MFA. Versto was at the Royal Court from 2005 to 2008.

(This blog article should of course have been posted last Friday, but as the deadline for submitting articles to Genealogen, the newsletter of the Norwegian Genealogical Society, expired on Sunday, I had to concentrate on finishing my contributions. But at least one of the articles, if accepted by the editior, will be royalty-related ...)

Updated on Wednesday 18 March 2015 at 08.30.