Longest reigns website updated

I finally got the time to update my Longest reigns (current monarchs) website tonight, following the abdication of King Albert II and the swearing in of King Philippe of the Belgians two days ago. The change of king only meant that the Belgian king was moved from place no. 12 to 30, while the king of Lesotho and the monarchs in the line behind him was moved one step up.

King Bhumibol of Thailand tops the list, as he succeeded to the throne already in 1946. He is not the oldest monarch of the world, however, as King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, b. 1923 or 1924, holds that position. The youngest monarch, as mentioned last time the Longest reigns website was updated, is the Emir of Qatar, Sheik Tamim, b. 3 July 1980.

UK: Royal birth

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge became parents to a son in the late afternoon of 22 July 2013. The press release from Clarence House said:

Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a son at 4.24pm.

The baby weighs 8lbs 6oz.

The Duke of Cambridge was present for the birth.

The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry and members of both families have been informed and are delighted with the news.

Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well and will remain in hospital overnight.

Notes to editors

1. The medical staff present were Mr Marcus Setchell, Surgeon-Gynaecologist, Mr Guy Thorpe-Beeston, Obstetrician and Dr Sunit Godambe, Consultant Neonatologist at St. Mary’s Hospital.
2. The names of the baby will be announced in due course.
3. The baby is third in the line of succession after His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and His Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge. He is styled His Royal Highness Prince [name] of Cambridge.
4. A formal notice of the birth will be posted on the forecourt of Buckingham Palace.

8lb 6oz corresponds roughly to 3798 grams.

The Twitter account of Clarence House has been rather busy tonight. At 9.37 pm (8.37 local time, I think) it was tweeted that "The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry & families have been told and are delighted." The official announcement outside Buckingham Palace can be viewed here.

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall have issued the following joint statement:

Both my wife and I are overjoyed at the arrival of my first grandchild. It is an incredibly special moment for William and Catherine and we are so thrilled for them on the birth of their baby boy.

Grandparenthood is a unique moment in anyone’s life, as countless kind people have told me in recent months, so I am enormously proud and happy to be a grandfather for the first time and we are eagerly looking forward to seeing the baby in the near future.

For more details, go to BBC News. Now we just have to wait for the announcement of the names for the newborn prince, who is no. 3 in the line of succession to the British throne. Quite exciting! For my earlier comments on possible names, please go here.

Celebrations in Norway and Belgium

It has been an eventful weekend in the royal houses of Norway and Belgium. Crown Prince Haakon celebrated his 40th birthday on Saturday 20 July 2013, and due to his great interest in music, his anniversary was marked by a music festivial in the garden/park of the royal residence of Skaugum in Asker outside Oslo. Artists from Norway and abroad entertained both on Saturday and Sunday, and many of the 220 guests stayed the night in tents in the park. King Harald V and Queen Sonja preferred to sleep at their royal residence at Bygdøy, though. The Royal Palace issued on Friday 19 July 2013 a list of the royal guests attending the celebrations:

Norway
HM King Harald V
HM Queen Sonja
HRH Crown Prince Haakon

HRH Crown Princess Mette-Marit
Marius Borg Høiby
HRH Princess Ingrid Alexandra
Prince Sverre Magnus
Princess Märtha Louise
Ari Behn

The Netherlands
HM King Willem-Alexander
HM Queen Máxima
HRH Prince Constantijn

Denmark
HRH Crown Prince Frederik
HRH Crown Princess Mary

Other royal guests
HRH Prince Pavlos of Greece
HRH Princess Marie Chantal of Greece
HRH Prince Kyril of Bulgaria, Prince of Preslav
HRH Princess Mafalda of Bulgaria (daughter of Prince Kyril and Princess Rosario)
HRH Princess Olimpia (daughter of Prince Kyril and Princess Rosario)
HRH Princess Princess Rosario (ex-wife* of Prince Kyril)
HRH Prince Jaime of Bourbon-Parme (son of the late Prince Carlos Hugo and of Princess Irene of the Netherlands)

*Or just separated?

According to Budstikka also Princess Märtha Louise and Ari Behn's 3 children were present.

The Norwegian TV company NRK broadcast a rather nice interview with Crown Prince Haakon on Saturday evening. Photos from the festival can be viewed on Dagbladet.no and VG.no. Views and News of Norway has published articles about the celebrations on 16 July, 18 July and 19 July 2013 (a bit tabloid in style, if you ask me).

Over in Belgium, King Harald V of Norway's first cousin King Albert II held his televised farewell speech on Saturday 20 July (Dutch and French version). On Sunday 21 July 2013, which is Belgium's national day, a Te Deum was held in the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels at 9 a.m. followed by the abdication ceremony at 10.30 at the Royal Palace. Present were King Albert II, Queen Paola, Prince Philippe, Princess Mathilde, Queen Fabiola, Princess Astrid and Prince Lorenz as well as Prince Laurent and Princess Claire. The act of abdication can be read here.

The swearing in ceremony of King Albert II's eldest son Philippe took place before the two chambers of the Parliament at noon. King Philippe held a speech which thankfully has also been translated into English, before the king, Queen Mathilde and their children greeted the people from the balcony of the Royal Palace at 1 p.m. On the balcony were besides the new king and queen also former King Albert and Queen Paola, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde's children Princess Elisabeth, the Duchess of Brabant, Prince Gabriel, Prince Emmanuel and Princess Eléonore as well as Queen Fabiola, Princess Astrid, Prince Lorenz, Prince Laurent and Princess Claire. See photos from today's historic event at Standaard.be.

My Longest reigns page will be updated early next week.

Postcript 14 August 2013: Side2.no (Nettavisen) yesterday claimed to know that Princess Mabel of Orange-Nassau also attended the celebrations of Crown Prince Haakon at Skaugum last month, although she was not on the guest list released by the royal court.

Concerning the photo series linked to above, they reveal that Crown Prince Haakon's first cousin Haakon Lorentzen, son of the late Princess Ragnhild, was also present together with his wife Martha.

Updated last time on Wednesday 14 August 2013 at 20:05 (postscript added).

UK: HRH The Princess Royal to become a grandmother again

The press secretary to the Queen of the United Kingdom issued the following statement today, 8 July 2013:

Mr and Mrs Mike Tindall are very pleased to announce that Zara Tindall is expecting a baby in the New Year.

The Princess Royal and Captain Mark Phillips, Mr Phillip and Mrs Linda Tindall, and members of both families are delighted with the news.

This baby will be the first child for Mike and Zara and the third grandchild for The Princess Royal.

Zara Tindall, née Phillips, is the youngest child of HRH The Princess Royal (Princess Anne) and Captain Mark Phillips. She married the rugby player Mike Tindall, son of Phillip Tindall and Linda Tindall, née Shepherd, at Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh on 30 July 2011.

The Tindall baby will of course be the fourth great-grandchild of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, as the whole Britain, if not the whole world, is eagerly awaiting the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's first child. The due date is said to be the firstcoming Saturday, 13 July, but as everyone knows the birth could take place any day now.

Those with a Twitter account has surely started to follow the royal baby news via the hashtag #royalbaby. Lots of people also used the same hashtag when the news of Zara Tindall's pregnancy was announced. Personally I would have preferred if #Tindallbaby had been used instead, so that #royalbaby was restricted to the Cambridges. There are too many tweets already! Even if the term "royal" is not legally defined in the UK, I think people are stretching it a bit far when #royalbaby is also used for the Tindall baby. There is after all no royal title at stake here. The future Tindall will, by the way, become no. 16 in the line of succession to the British throne.

The Crown Princess Märtha statue outside Asker Church, Norway

The statue of Crown Princess Märtha with her son Prince Harald, now King Harald V, on her arm was made by sculptor Dyre Vaa (1903-1980).

Princess Märtha of Sweden (and of Norway until 1905) (1901-1954) married the then Crown Prince Olav of Norway (1903-1991) at Our Saviour's Church in Oslo in 1929. The couple lived at the Skaugum estate in Asker not far from Asker Church.

The bronze statue was cast in 1959, but first unveiled by King Olav V on 29 August 1969. The original plan was to place the statue in a park planned to be constructed west of Asker, but the statue was finally placed outside Asker Church. The statue is 2,80 m high (including the base the monument is around 5 m high) and the base of the statue is made of syenite.

Present at the unveiling ceremony were besides King Olav and the sculptor also Crown Princess Märtha's siblings Princess Margaretha of Denmark and Prince Carl Bernadotte as well as Crown Prince Harald, Crown Princess Sonja, Princess Astrid Mrs. Ferner, Johan Martin Ferner, Cathrine, Benedikte and Alexander Ferner, Prince Georg and Princess Anne of Denmark, Count Flemming and Countess Ruth of Rosenborg and Asker's mayor Jon Fossum.

(To the right when you pass the Southern gate of the cemetery behind the statue one can find the grave of Crown Princess Märtha's eldest daughter Princess Ragnhild, Mrs. Lorentzen (1930-2012).

Sources: Aftenposten 3 March 1959 No. 104, p. 4; Aftenposten 12 June 1969 No. 261, p. 1; Aftenposten 30 August 1969 No. 397, pp. 1 and 18.

Postscript 7 July 2013 at 23:40:  It should be added that Asker og Bærum Leksikon (Encyclopaedia), 2006, p. 355, claims that the statue was unveiled on 28 September 1969 (after being stored since 1958). This is definately wrong, cf. the newspaper references above. However, the entry about the Crown Princess Märtha monument also claim that it is 4 m high (statue + base), while Aftenposten 12 June 1969 No. 261, says it is about 5 m high. I really have no idea. The monument is named "A happy mother to a little boy" and after all the disagremeents over where to place the statue it was King Olav himself who ended the discussion by expressing his wish that the statue should be outside the church.

Updated on 8 JUly 2013 at 13:15 (corrected "main gate" to "Southern gate").

The King Olav V statue, Asker, Norway

The statue of King Olav V in an admiral's uniform at Asker Torg was unveiled in 1998. The sculptor was Joseph Grimeland (1916-2002).

Grave of Princess Ragnhild, Mrs. Lorentzen, Asker Cemetery, Norway

Princess Ragnhild, Mrs. Lorentzen, b. The Royal Palace, Oslo 9 June 1930, d. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 16 September 2012, was the oldest daughter of the then Crown Prince Olav (1903-1991) and Crown Princess Märtha (1901-1954) of Norway.

The funeral service took place at the Palace Chapel in Oslo on 28 September 2012, followed by interment at Asker Cemetery. The three photos above show Princess Ragnhild's grave. An article about the church and cemetery will follow later.

(The photos were all taken on 6 July 2013.)

Earlier articles

• 17 September 2012: Princess Ragnhild Mrs. Lorentzen (1930-2012)
• 18 September 2012: Princess Ragnhild's funeral set for 28 September 2012