King Harald Vs Jubilee Medal 1991–2016

Photo: © Sven Gj. Gjeruldsen, Det kongelige hoff (The Royal Court).

In order to commemorate King Harald V's 25th anniversary as King of Norway on 17 January 2016 His Majesty founded a new medal named King Harald Vs Jubilee Medal 1991–2016. In the order of precedence among the Norwegian decorations the new medal has been listed as no. 38. The list shows that also King Haakon VII and King Olav V founded similar medals on their 25th anniversary.

The new medal has been awarded to members of the Norwegian Royal Family, the foreign royal guests attending the celebrations last weekend, current and former court and staff members, the King's aides-de-camp, then Royal Police Escort, members of the government and other current and former representatives of the official Norway who have assisted the king and the royal family in carrying out their work. Among the recipients were:

HM Queen Sonja
HRH Crown Prince Haakon
HRH Crown Princess Mette-Marit
HRH Princess Ingrid Alexandra
Prince Sverre Magnus
Marius Borg Høiby
Princess Märtha Louise
Princess Astrid, Mrs. Ferner
Ari Behn
Maud Angelica Behn
Leah Isadora Behn
Emma Talullah Behn
Erling S. Lorentzen
HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
HM King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
HM Queen Silvia of Sweden
President of the Storting Olemic Thommesen
Prime Minister Erna Solberg
President of the Supreme Court of Justice Tore Schei
President of Sametinget (Sami Parliament) Aili Keskitalo
Former prime ministers Gro Harlem Brundtland, Kjell Magne Bondevik, Thorbjørn Jagland, Jens Stoltenberg

Design

The medal is in silver, 30 mm mounted closed crown. It is carried in a crimson ribbon with a sewn spangle of silver with the text «1991–2016».

Obverse: Harald V's profile faced right encircled by the text «HARALD V NORGES KONGE ALT FOR NORGE» («HARALD V KING OF NORWAY ALL FOR NORWAY»).

Reverse: King Harald V's crowned monogram H5.

The medal has been engraved by Ingrid Austlid Rise and produced by Polath, Germany for Reide. Ingrid Austlid Rise is a goldsmith working for Det Norske Myntverket. Her biography can be found on Wikipedia (in Norwegian).

King Harald V of Norway's 25th anniversary

© Photo: Jørgen Gomnæs / Det kongelige hoff (The Royal Court). 

Today, 17 January 2016, it is 25 years since King Olav V of Norway died and his son Harald succeeded to the throne. The anniversary has been  marked during the weekend with several events.

There was no Council of State on Friday. Instead, Their Majesties received deputations at the Royal Palace. Among the representatives of the offical Norway attending in order to congratulate the king and queen were Prime Minister Erna Solberg on  behalf of the Government, Secretary to the Government Nina Frisak (who is to retire in July 2016) on behalf of the PMO and the public administration, Vice President of the Storting (Parliament) Marit Nybakk, President of the Supreme Court of Justice Tore Schei (who is also going to retire this year) and Jørn Are Gaski on behalf of Sametinget (the Sami Parliament).

The Chief of Defence, Admiral Haakon Bruun-Hanssen, conveyed his congratulations on behalf of the Military Services and County Governor of Buskerud Helen Bjørnøy on behalf of all the county governors. The diplomatic corps was represented by Argentina's Ambasador, H.E. Juan Manuel Ortiz de Rosas. Bishop Helga Haugland Byfuglien, who is praeses of the Norwegian Bishops' Conference, represented the Church of Norway, while the chairman of the Islamic Council of Norway, Ghulam Abbas, conveyed his congratulations on behalf of the Islamic society of Norway. Among others coming to the Palace on Friday were Oslo's mayor Marianne Borgen and chairman of Kommunenes Sentralforbund (Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities), Gunn Marit Helgesen.

A congratulatory protocol was also opened on Friday for the diplomatic corps and later also for the public (in English). On Friday the Royal Court released new official portraits of the King, Queen and other members of the Royal Family. (A monogram to be used in connection with the anniversary was released on 18 December 2015.)

On Saturday evening a dinner was held at the Crown Princely estate of Skaugum in Asker. Present were most descendants of King Olav and their partners, besides the Swanstrøms (Haraldsen family) and Crown Princess Mette-Marit's mother Marit Tjessem and her partner. In addition King Carl Gustraf and Queen Silvia of Sweden and Queen Margrethe of Denmark. Missing were Princess Ragnhild Mrs. Lorentzen's youngest daughter Ragnhild and her family, as well as Crown Princess Mette-Marit's son Marius Borg Høiby, who attended a school ball instead. The following were in attendance according to the group photo (see link above), starting from back row (left):

Carl-Christian Ferner, Anna-Stina Slattum Ferner, Carl Christian Dahl, Ian Swanstrøm, Dag Swanstrøm, Anne Karine Swanstrøm, Christian Fredrik Lorentzen, Sophia Lorentzen, Olav Alexander Lorentzen, Victoria Ragna Lorentzen Ribeiro, Felipe Falcao, Madeleine Ferner Johansen, Sebastian Ferner Johansen, Stella Ferner, Edward Ferner, Benjamin Ferner Beckmann. Ribeiro, Paulo Ribeiro, Martha Lorentzen, Haakon Lorentzen, Cathrine Ferner, Johansen, Arild Johansen, Margrét Gudmuindsdottitr Ferner, Alexander Ferner, Benedikte Ferner, Aage Hvinden, Elisabeth Ferner, Anders Leegård, Karl Otto Haraldsen, Lene Haraldsen, Ari Behn, Princess Märtha Louise, Queen Silvia of Sweden, King Carl Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Sonja, King Harald, Queen Margrethe of Danmark, Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Princess Astrid Mr. Ferner, Erling Lorentzen, Ebba Løvenskiold (latter's new partner), Marit Tjessem, Magnar Fjeldvær, Emma Tallulah Behn, Leah Isadora Behn, Maud Angelica Behn, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus.

The anniversary day was opened with a service in the Palace Chapel, where the members of the royal family, other family members, King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, Queen Margrethe of Denmark and representatives of the official Norway were in attendance. Bishop Helga Haugland Byfuglien presided. Afterwards the royals walked out to the Palace Square to watch (and some of the also took part in) the various winter activities taking place there, which included skiing, snowboarding, ski jumping, ice slading and biathlon with laser rifles. I spent a few minutes at the Palace Square and was impressed with how many people who came along wither to participate or watch, considering how really cold it was outside. The many people made it difficult to spot the royals, but at least I saw the queen before I left. Later on the royal family appeared on the balcony, in addition to Princess Astrid Mrs. Ferner, Queen Margrethe and King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia, so I guess I left too early (but I had to leave due to a dinner with friends).

There were also activities at the University Square and the Spikersuppa ice skating rink. Later the royal family attended a gala performance in the University Aula, followed by a private dinner at the Royal Palace in the evening.The gala performance was only for the royal family and invited guests, but the public could watch from a largre screen outside. The winter and other outdoor activities, including the performance gala, was the Norwegian Government's present to Their Majesties. I must say it was a wonderful way for the people to take part in the celebrations!

Some links to more information as well as photos from the events:

• Royal Couple for 25 years (The Government/Regjeringen.no) 
• VG.no
• Aftenposten.no
• TV2.no
• The Royal Court

Arms of the Duvivier family, Belgium

When I visited Brussels in October last year, I came over a few litographies of coats of arms in a second-hand bookstore. I decided to buy three of them, which shows the arms of the Belgian Duvivier family and two of its members. The litographies were made around 1860 and cost 20 Euro each.

Arms of Lieutenant General Vincent Marie Duviver (1774–1851).

Arms of Vincent's younger brother Lieutenant General Ignace Louis Duvivier (1777–1853).

I don't know much about the said persons, but there is a Wikipedia article about Ignace Duvivier in French and Dutch. The article includes a photo of a memorial which I believe I saw during my visit to Mons (Bergen) in June 2000. A photo of the Duvivier arms can be viewed here.

Not sure what I am going to do with the litographies, but they are quite nice. Maybe I should frame them and put them on the wall?

Royalty Digest Quarterly no. 4, 2015

I received the last issue of Royalty Digest Quarterly (no. 4, 2015) exactly one week before Christmas Eve, and have speent a large part of this evening reading it. I will probably read several of the articles once more during the new year's weekend, as they deserve to be spent more time on.

Some times the publisher and editor Ted Rosvall uses his Editor's Corner to give his views on a recent royal event, other times he uses a royal event as a jumping-off point for diving into history. In the present issue Rosvall mentions the fairly recent death of Leonid Kulikovsky, a grandson of Grand Princess Olga of Russia (1882–1960), in order to list other members of the Gotha "who have chosen to retire from Royal life in favour of privacy, and sometimes solitude", such as King George IV Adolf of Sweden (1778–1837), Johann Salvator of Austria-Tuscany/Johann Orth (1852–1890?) and Prince Christopher of Yugoslavia (1960–1994). Thankfully Rosvall didn't mention Alexander Hugo Köhler, by some people believed to be Johann Orth!

The very same day I received the present issue, it was exactly 200 years since Brazil joined with Portugal to form the United Kingdom of Piortugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Claudia Witte gives the background of the union in her article on the bicentenary, and outlines the history of the short-lived union until King João VI left Brazil in April 1821. Brazil's independence was declared the year after and Brazil became an empire.

Charlotte Zeepvat then returns with her traditional family album, this time covering The Royal House of the Netherlands. This also explains the photo on the front cover, which shows Queen Julia of the Netherlands with her family (Prince Bernhard, Princesses Irene, Margriet, Maria Christina and Beatriz) on her inauguration day in 1948. I must say that the history of the House of Orange-Nassau is rather complex, but Zeepvat does well in guiding the readers into the period from 1255 until 2013, and all these years on only three pages! The photo album this time includes 95 photos as well as 4 pages of genealogical tables.

Herzog-Max-Palais, Munich.

I have been to Munich twice, the first time in the summer of 1987 when I spent 3 weeks there attending a German language course. The Deutsche Bundesbank, which is located at the site once occupied by the palais, was not too far from where I tried to learn more German. I didn't know then, though. Elizabeth Jane Timms gives a good outline of the history of the palais, which was demolished in 1937–38.

In April next year Dagmar von Arbin, the eldest daughter of Count Carl Bernadotte of Wisborg and the former Baroness Marianne de Geer and thus a great-grandchild of King Oscar II, will celebrate her 100th birthday. Roger Lundgren has used the occasion to make an interview, published in the article Dagmar von Arbin. The next Bernadotte centenarian. I would love to read more such interviews with people who is related to and has so much insight into royalty!

Marion Wynn tells the story of the then Crown Princess Victoria of Prussia's visit to Flete (Flete House at Holbeton, Devon) in 1887, before Charlotte Zeepvat dives into the scandals of Princess Louise of Belgium (1858–1924), daughter of King Leopold II and married to Prince Philipp of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1844-1921) from 1875 to 1906, in the article Her Own Affairs. The extraordinary life of Princess Louise of Belgium. Extraordinary, indeed, What a dreadful life! And that father ... "Louise was severly punished once for eating a peach from the garden, not realising that her father kept careful count of every piece of fruit on the tree". Good grief!

Earlier today I complained that Royalty Digest Quarterly seemed to have stopped publishing book reviews, but that was before I actually looked into the present issue. Because on page 62 Ted Rosvall himself gives a rather critical review of Royal Exiles in Cannes. The Bourbons of the Two Sicilies of the Villa Marie-Thérèse by David McIntosh and Arturo E. Beéche (Eurohistory.com, 2015, ISBN 9781944207014).

Finally, the readers can enjoy the column The World Wide Web of Royalty, with news from the imperial, royal or princely houses of Croy, Erbach-Erbach, Isenburg, Italy, Orsini and Rosenberg, Prussia, Russia, Saxe-Meiningen, Two Sicilies, Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, Waldburg-Wolfegg-Waldsee and Waldburg-Zeil-Trauchburg.

Information on Royalty Digest Quarterly can be found at its editor's website Royalbooks.se. See earlier presentation of RDQ here. See also its Facebook page.

 

Serbia: HRH Crown Prince Alexander Karadjordjevic – At the service of the country

Two days ago the Office of HRH Crown Prince Alexander Karadjordjevic published a rather interesting article on the official website of the Royal Family of Serbia, titled HRH Crown Prince Alexander Karadjordjevic – At the service of the country, which among others tell how much the Crown Prince couple has invested in the Royal Compound over the years.

In the last paragraph we can read that "[...] it makes no sense to respond to ugly tabloid headlines in our newspapers about the financial difficulties in the maintenance of the Royal Compound, but only to list the major activities of TRH Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine, who with their devotion and love for the people Serbia and are entirely at the service of our country."

Still, it would have been interesting to learn what the tabloids actually wrote. And I hope that the Serbian state one day learns the historical value the Royal Compound represents and decides to increase its financial support.

Eurohistory. The European Royal History Journal, Vol. 18.4, August 2015

Issue CVI (Volume 18.4) of Eurohistory. The European Royal History Journal arrived in mid-December, but I didn't find any time to read it before I traveled back to Oslo yesterday. But what can be better than to be able to read without disturbance on a plane? Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom made the front cover this time, as she on Wednesday 9 September 2015 became the longest-reignng British monarch ever, thus overtaking her great-grandmother Queen Victoria's record. And can you believe it, next year Queen Elizabeth will celebrate her 90th birthday. The first article of the present issue, A Historic Milestone, written by Katrina Warne and Arturo E. Beéche, naturally enough focuses on the record-breaking queen. Should I add a critical comment, it would be that – at last to me – it would be make more sense if the article was published in the October issue rather than the August issue, but I might be too pedantic now. Anyway, the other articles included are as follows:

• Crown Prince Rupprecht. The Best King Bavaria Never Had (Part II) by Coryne Hall
• Who Is In the Photograph. The Kents by Ilana D. Miller
• Beatriz, Jaime and Juan. Spanish Royal Marriages in 1935 by Marlene A. Eilers Koenig
• The Extraordinary Life of Princess Catherine Radziwill. Perfect Liar (Part II) by Greg King and Janet Ashton
• Obituary. HRH the Prince of Tirnovo by Arturo E. Beéche
  

Regarding Ilana Miller's photo article, the photo she has chosen as a starting-point for her article shows Princess Alexandra, the Duchess of Kent (i.e. Princess Marina), Prince Michael and (current) Duke of Kent.The article includes 6 more photos, I should add.

Greg King and Janet Ashton's article is an analysis of the princess' writings about the Romanovs. The article includes "factual evaluations of some of her claims, pointing out where she demonstrated intimate information, where she slipped into opinion, and where she let spite overtake the truth". The authors continue to say that "we don't pretent to cover each and every contention, whether true or false. In so doing, we also look at the environment in which any given work was published, examining issues of consistency and how she slanted her presentation to accord with contemporary events and attitudes".

Even if not as entertaining as the first part (see my coverage of Volume 18.3), it is nevertheless a thorough and interesting exercise, and I look forward to reading part III.

This time I would like to give three cheers to Coryne Hall, who this time have found time to review as many as 5 publications:

• Go-Betweens for Hitler by Karina Urbach (Oxford University Press, 2015, ISBN: 9780198703662)
• Michel Romanoff de Russie. Un destin français by Anna Toscano (Editions l'Harmattan, Paris), 2014, ISBN 9782343048475)
• Royal Love Stories by Gill Paul (Ivy Press, 2015, ISBN 9781782401506) 
• The Queen's Speech. An Intimate Portrait of the Queen in Her Own Words by Ingrid Seward (Simon & Schuster, 2015, ISBN 9781471151545)
• Treasures From the Royal Archives by Pam Cllark, Julie Crocker, Allisson Derrett, Laura Hobbs and Jill Kelsey (Royal Collection Trust, 2015, ISBN 9781909741041) 

The publisher should also be applauded for giving so much space for book reviews, especially now when the other royalty magazine, Royalty Digest Quarterly, without any explanation seems to have stopped including them.* For more book reviews, see Marlene Koenig's blog Royal Book News.

Finally the Royal News section gives the readers an update of events in Austria (Tuscany), Baden, Georgia, Hohenzollern, Lippe, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Spain, the United Kingdom, Salm-Salm, Solms-Hohensolms-Lich and Toerring-Jettenbach.

I often forget to comment on the back cover. This time it shows a nice photo of Prince Kardam of Bulgaria (the Prince of Tirnovo) and his wife Miriam, née Ungria y López. Prince Kardam died on 7 April 2015.

The publisher of The European Royal History Royal can be reached at erhj [at] eurohistory.com.

For earlier articles on the magazine, please go here.

* Postscript 29 December 2015 at 23:30. The above was written before I read the last issue of Royalty Digest Quarterly. 

Fødselsmelding for dronning Sonja (birth report for Queen Sonja)

I april 2015 skrev jeg en artikkel om fødselsmeldinger som kilde, og brukte medlemmer av kongefamilien som eksempler. Fødselsmeldingene (eller -anmeldelsene) sendt inn til enten Aker eller Oslo helseråd er arkivert i Oslo byarkiv. Det viste seg at fødselsmeldingen for daværende Sonja Haraldsen, nå dronning Sonja, ikke var å finne verken i 1937-boksen for Aker eller Oslo. En mulig forklaring kan ha vært at meldingen var feillagt, eventuelt  rotet bort og forsvunnet, stjålet eller konfiskert. Det har nok hendt at overivrige byråkrater har fjernet dokumenter som de har ment burde unndras offentlighetens lys, men ettersom jeg har vanskeligheter med å falle for konspirasjonsteorier, antok jeg at ett av de to første forklaringene var mest sannsynlig.

Forleden dag fikk jeg en tekstmelding fra en person som har valgt å være anonym – tekstmeldingen var ikke signert, og mobilnummeret står ikke i noe offentlig register – om at fødselsmeldingen var funnet i en boks merket «Utenbys». Jeg var rask med å kontakte byarkivet, og seksjonsleder Cecilie Lintoft kunne bekrefte i en e-post 16. desember 2015 at «vi for noen år har noen bokser merket «utenbys» i fødselsmeldingene for Oslo, og sikkert for Aker også». Med andre ord må man ha dette i mente når man leter etter fødselsmeldinger sendt inn til enten Aker eller Oslo helseråd i Oslo byarkiv.

Så kan man jo selvsagt begynne å gruble over hvorfor fødselsmeldingen havnet i boksen merket «Utenbys» og ikke i den vanlige Aker-boksen for 1937. Familien Haraldsen bodde vitterlig i Tuengen allé 1 B, som det også fremkommer av fødselsmeldingen. Det kan være at familien hadde midlertidig adresse Berget, Medø ved Røssesund i Tjøme kommune – Haraldsen fikk oppført hytta «på midten av 1930-tallet», ifølge Dagbladet i 1997.

Men familien må ha oppholdt seg på Vinderen i begynnelsen av juli, for følgende står skrevet i Randi Bratteli/Sissel Lange-Nielsens bok Sonja. Norges Kronprinsesse (Oslo: Aschehough, 1983), s.18:

    «Den 4. juli 1937 om eftermiddagen kom de første veene. Det var en stekende varm dag, pappa Haraldsen var på stranden med de to eldste barna. Han kom tilbake i halv-seks-tiden og kjørte sin kone til Røde Kors Klinikk. Det var første gang hun skulle føde på sykehus. De andre barna ble født hjemme, det vanligste på den tiden.
    Den lille gutten som døde [Karl Herman], hadde vært søndagsbarn, og nå var det søndag igjen. Dagny Haraldsen ble så ivrig. Hun ønsket inderlig at det nye barnet også skulle rekke å bli søndagsbarn.
    «Det må vi se å greie,» sa jordmoren.
    Og klokken halv ni kom en liten pike.»

Uansett hvordan man definerer «eftermiddagen», er det lite sannsynlig at Karl August, Haakon og Gry kjørte hele veien fra Tjøme til Vinderen og var fremme kl. 17.30. De ville vel heller ikke oppholde seg så langt fra klinikken så nære den forestående fødselen. Så dette med «Utenbys» kan man fortsette å gruble over. Eventuelt ta opp spørsmålet med Slottet ved leilighet.

Fødselsmeldingen for Sonja Haraldsen bekrefter det meste som er kjent fra før av. Hun ble født 4. juli 1937 kl. 20.30 på Røde Kors Klinikk i Frederik Stangs gate 11/13 i Oslo med foreldre kjøpmann Karl August Haraldsen, f. 5. april 1889 og hustru Dagny, f. 25. november 1898. Bostedsadressen var Tuengen allé 1 B på Vinderen. Sonjas mor hadde født 3 barn tidligere (Haakon, Gry og Karl Herman). Muligens mindre kjent er navnet på jordmoren, Ragnhild Roø.* Hun har jeg foreløbig ikke lykkes med å finne ut noe mer om. Etternavnet har i hvert fall eksistert, jf. et søk på DIS-Norges gravminner og i Aftenposten Arkiv, men noe treff på navnet «Ragnhild Roø» (med forbehold om at jeg har tolket skriften riktig) har jeg ikke fått. Hun kan jo ha vært født etter folketellingen 1910 og så giftet seg etter 4. juli 1937.

Summary in English

In a blog article I wrote in April 2015 about birth reports to Oslo or Aker Health Council, I commented that the birth report for the then Sonja Haraldsen was missing. It has now been found in a separate box labelled «Out of town».

Litteratur

• Brantenberg, Gerd. «Sonja, 57 år, dronning», i Berggren, Arne/Brantenberg, Gerd/Dahle, Gro/Siegert, Herdis Maria/Tønnessen, Christine. Stemmer ved verdens ende. 86 Tjøme-portretter, Tønsberg : Færder forl., 1999, s. 9–14. [Boken er kun tilgjengelig for de med norske IP-adresser.]
• Randi Bratteli/Sissel Lange-Nielsens bok Sonja. Norges Kronprinsesse, Oslo: Aschehough, 1983.

* Postskript 21. desember 2015: Kan jordmoren ha rotet til signaturen sin, slik at det som tilsynelatende ser ut som Roø i stedet skal være Røe? For mens man foreløbig ikke har funnet noen god kandidat med navnet Ragnhild Roø, så har gode hjelpere på Digitalarkivets brukerforum pekt i retning av Ragnhild Røe, f. Eidanger 28. mai 1904, jf. folketellingen 1910, datter av skipsreder Cornelius Røe (1856–1910) og Johanne Cathrine (Larsdatter) Larsen (1867–1944). Ragnhild er opplistet som underjordmor i Oslo Adressebok 1937, og giftet seg for øvrig med presten Arne Berge 13. april 1948 (jf. vielsesannonsen i Aftenposten 12. april 1948 nr. 166 s. 5). I vielsesannonsen henvises hun til som «Røde Kors-søster». Ragnhild Berge døde i Horten 3. februar 1988 (jf. dødsannonsen i Aftenposten 4. februar 1988 nr. 57 s. 17) og ligger gravlagt på Vestre gravlund, Oslo. Wikipedia-artikkelen om Arne Berge mangler henvisninger og må derfor leses med et kritisk blikk. Gårds- og slektshistorien for Eidanger, bind 3, er ihvertfall en referanse for informasjon om Cornelius og Johanne Røe, selv om forfatteren ikke fått seg med så mange barn sammenlignet med folketellingen 1910.

Updated on 21 December 2015 (postscript added, typos corrected); 29 December 2015 at 18:45 (typo corrected).