27 April 2022
Royalty Digest Quarterly no. 1, 2022
28 February 2022
Norway: King Harald breaks off his vacation
The Royal Court has informed the newspaper Dagbladet that King Harald and Queen Sonja have decided to break off their vacation abroad and return home to Norway earlier than planned. The reason for their decision is the war in Ukraine.
The list of official engagements has already been updated and states that the King will grant the prime minister an audience on Friday morning 4 March 2022 and will also preside over the Council of State at 11 a.m. The Criown Prince will be attending both events. Originally Crown Prince Haakon was meant to serve as Regent for the whole week during the King's absence.
26 February 2022
Norway: Crown Prince Haakon back in business
As reported 2 days ago Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit returned home from their vacation abroad a bit earlier than planned on Friday 25 February so that the Crown Prince could take up the role as Regent. No ordinary Council of State was planned for Friday –in week 8 there is a winter break in Oslo and some other counties and it is seldom that a Council of State takes place that week – but I speculated that an extraordinary meeting was going to take place in order to decide on sanctions on the Russian Federation following their invasion of Ukraine. No such Council of State has taken place yet. Next council is scheduled for Friday 4 March.
It could very well be, as for instance fellow historian Oscar Aanmoen has suggested, that the Crown Prince returned home earlier to «take care of the royal house's duties in the event of an escalation». Following the Crown Prince's return, the program of official engagements was changed and today the Crown Prince Regent granted Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre an audience at 9.30 a.m. I am sure that the war in Ukraine was the main topic during the conversation.
Crown Prince Haakon will as planned serve as Regent the whole of next week due to the king's stay abroad.
24 February 2022
Norwegian Crown Prince couple returns to Norway earlier than planned due to the war in Ukraine
VG (NRK) reports that the Crown Prince and Crown Prince of Norway have decided to break off their vacation and return home due to Russia's attack on Ukraine so that the Crown Prince can take up the role as Regent.
The Crown Prince couple will arrive in Norway on Friday. Prior to the decision to return home, the Crown Prince as Regent had several engagements planned for Monday 28 February and Thursday 3 March and is going to preside over the Council of State on Friday 4 March. Due to the winter break no Council of State was going to take place this Friday (25 February), but this might change if Norway is going to decide on economic sanctions against Russia. Alternatively an extraordinary Council of State could take place early next week. Time will show.
The whole royal family has been on vacation abroad this week in order to celebrate King Harald's 85th birthday. No details have been given, but I suspect that the Crown Prince family originally had planned to return home on Sunday. The king and queen will stay abroad for yet another week.
According to the Constitution of Norway article 41, when both the King and «the person next entitled to succeed to the throne», i,e, the Crown Prince, are abroad or incapacitated due to illness, «the Council of State [i.e. the Government] will conduct the administration of the realm». This is why the Norwegian state flag has been flying from the roof of the Royal Palace this week. In other words, some time tomorrow the Crown Prince flag will be hoisted at the Palace.
4 March 2014
Norway: Princess Märtha Louise cancels trip to Sochi
Minister of Health and Care Services Bent Høie, who had planned to attend the opening ceremony of the Paralympics on Friday 7 March together with his husband, Dag Terje Klarp Solvang, has also decided to cancel his trip.
Earlier today the Swedish Royal Court informed that Crown Princess Victoria was not going to attend the Paralympics due to the Ukraine-Russia crisis.
See also Views and News from Norway today.
