This week the Norwegian newspaper VG, based on a Se og Hør article, published the news that Princess Märtha Louise of Norway's holiday home Bloksberg at Hankø outside Fredrikstad, has been put on the (private) market. The property has been in the royal family since the then Crown Prince Olav bought it in 1949.
When King Olav V died in 1991 the holiday home was inherited by King Harald V. Before the the changes of the financing of the royal family came into force on 1 January 2002, which among others meant that Princess Märtha Louise had to start paying taxes, the property was transferred on 28 December 2001 to Princess Märtha Louise as an advance on her inheritance. At the time the property was valued to about NOK 20 millions.
The spokesperson of Princess Märtha Louise, Carina Cheelde Carlsen, has confirmed to VG that Bloksberg has been put on the market. The Princess has only given a short comment on Instagram, writing «Will miss this view» attached to a photo taken from the cottage. It is not known why she wants to sell, but Se og Hør speculates that the property has become «too big, expensive and complicated to own». She doesn't have to pay tax on the sale, as she has owned the holiday home for more than 5 years and have also used it for at least 5 of the last 8 years, as the taxation act demands.
King Olav spent time at Bloksberg every summer, as it was a good place to reside during his sailing activities. His royal grandchildren also spent time there, although I believe they spent more time at the Haraldsen holiday home at Tjøme on the other side of the Oslofjord. The property has been used by Princess Märtha Louise and her family almost every year since she inherited it, and her middle daughter Leah Isadora Behn was born there in 2005.
According to a local estate agent (realtor), the current market value of the property could be as much as NOK 70 millions. But the realtor and lawyer Torbjørn Ek, who has been engaged to sell the property, tells in VG today that the property has been valued at NOK 35 millions. But of course the holiday home could be sold for more than that. The property will not be sold on the open market. Interested parties need to contact the real estate company for viewing.
Se og Hør writes that the then Crown Prince Olav bought the property at Hankø in 1947 (then a part of Onsøy municipality, which from 1994 was merged into Fredrikstad municipality) and VG adds that he also rented the place before WW2. The year of transfer is not correct, however. According to Grunnboken, the Land Registry, the deed was dated 31 October 1949 with the price of NOK 91.000. The same information was also published in the local newspaper Demokraten 12 December 1949. It should be added that according to Morgenbladet 22 June 1949, the Crown Prince family was going to spend Sankthansaften (St. John's Eve) at Bloksberg that year, which means that the property was rented by Crown Prince Olav also after the war and up to the formal transfer later the same year.
The Royal Court insists of using the old spelling Bloksbjerg as the name of the property. See for instance Princess Märtha Louise's biography at Kongehuset.no. The official name is, however, Bloksberg without the j, cf. Statens kartverk (the Norwegian Mapping Authority) as well as Seeiendom.no.
Updated on Thursday 16 August 2018 at 22.05 (more details in second last paragraph were added).
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