Norway: King Harald discharged from hospital

The Norwegian Royal Court released a short press statement earlier today informing that the king had been discharged from hospital, but that he was still on sick leave. King Harald was hospitalized on Wednesday last week after feeling dizzy and unwell. According to the court no serious illness has been found.

Ari Behn's urn to be interred at Our Saviour's Cemetery in Oslo

Grave of Thomas Konow (1796–1881), member of the Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814, is buried at Our Saviour's Cemetery in Oslo. Photo: © 2016 Dag Trygsland Hoelseth.

Geir Håkonsund, who was the author and artist Ari Behn's manager and who has served as the family's spokesperson following Behn's death, informed yesterday that it has been the family's wish that the urn will be interred at Our Saviour's Cemetery (Vår Frelsers gravlund) in Oslo. The family didn't want to reveal the date of interment.

I can well understand that Behn's family wishes to keep the date to themselves, especially if the family wants a private ceremony in connection with the interment. Following Behn's tragic death, the family has shown a remarkable openness, so their wish to keep something private should be respected. The disclosure of the place of interment for a former member of the royal family could be described to be in the public interest to some extent. Unless the urn will be interred in an unnamed grave – something I doubt will happen in this regard – the information will appear in the public cemetery register after the interment. Usually when people die during winter time in Norway, the remains, if cremated, will be interred after the frost has gone out of the ground. Even if the winter has been quite mild so far, I suppose there will be a waiting period before the interment takes place. We will know in due time.

Our Saviour's Cemetery is perhaps the most famous cemetery in Norway and is often described as the «Père Laichaise» of Norway, the place where all the famous people are buried. The cemetery includes Æreslunden, the honorary burial ground, which has many notable interments – for instance the artist Edvard Munch and the authors Henrik Ibsen and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. Outside the honorary burial section there are also many other graves of historical interest. Even an ancestor of Hereditary Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein is bured in the cemetery. In general Our Saviour's Cemetery was the place to be buried for the upper-class and bourgeois, and there are many grand tombstones to see there. But there are many graves with «less-known» people interred there too. A great aunt and uncle of my wife are buried in Our Saviour's Cemetery as well, mainly because they used to live nearby.

The cemetery was opened in 1808 and was closed to new burials in 1911, the honorary section excepted. After 1911 one could only be buried at the cemetery if the lease of a grave had expired. According to the cemetery website as well as the booklet Her hviler ... Kjente personer på kirkegårdene i Oslo sentrum (by Øyvind Haaland, 1999) the practice of reusing graves after the lease had expired was stopped between 1952 and 2014. I am not sure if this description is entirely accurate, as there were many people interred in «expired graves» in that period, including my wife's relatives. Anyway, nowadays the cemetery allows urn interments in graves which lease has expired.

According to the website the cemetery has more than 4500 tombstones which are considered to be worth preserving and which cannot be removed after the lease of the grave has expired. In order to keep the cemetery's historical appearance it is not allowed to set up headstones with modern design. But one can reuse a grave including the old headstone and get the old inscription replaced by a new one.*

Earlier in January I wrote that «it is quite possible that the urn will be interred at Lommedalen Cemetery in Bærum», given that he resided in Bærum at the time of his death and given that his daughters still live there. No information was disclosed about interment was disclosed at the time. I can, however, well understand the choice of Our Saviour's Cemetery in Oslo. Not only because of the cemetery's historical value, but also for practical reasons. It will among others be easier for Ari's family in the Moss area to visit the cemetery, which is close to downtown Oslo, than to travel to Lommedalen in Bærum.

My earlier blog articles about Our Saviour's Cemetery in Oslo can be found here. More articles will follow later.

* Postscript 15 January 2020: I have to make an additional remark here. According to the Cemetery Administration in Oslo's annual report 2018, when the lease of a grave at Our Saviour's Cemetery has expired and is being reused, the headstone will be taken from an expired lease at another cemetery in Oslo. According to an e-mail from the cemetery administration today, there is an ethical explanation for this – former lease holders should not be exposed to recognizing the headstone which is being used.

Postscript 25 April 2020: Due to the corona virus situation all urn interments where the bereaved wishes to have a ceremony have been postponed indefinitely. According to Se og Hør no. 17/2020, the cemetery administration has confirmed that Ari Behn's urn will be interred in section 20.

Updated on 15 January 2020 (postscript added), last time on 25 Apri 2020 (postscript added).

Norway: King Harald still in hospital, expected to be discharged this week

King Harald of Norway, who was admitted to hospital last Wednesday for dizziness, is still in hospital, but is expected to be discharged this week. In a NTB interview published in Aftenposten on early Sunday evening, the Royal Court's head of communication, Guri Varpe, said that there were no changes since Friday, when the king's health was said to be improving. The head of communication told NTB that the Palace would release a statement when he was discharged.

When Crown Prince Haakon, who has been serving as Regent since his father was admitted to hospital, met the press in connection with his visit to the Norwegian Refugee Council's main office in Oslo on Monday, he said that the king was recovering and that they expeted that he would be home from hospital during the week. He added that his father was «quite well» considering the circumstances. – He was feeling dizzy and unwell, that was the reason why he was admitted to the hospital in the first place. There his health will be continually reviewed.

The Sultan of Oman has died, Longest reigns website updated

The late Sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Sa’id bin Taimur al-Mu’azzam. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The Sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Said bin Taimur al-Muazzam, died late on 10 January 2020, 79 years old, after having suffered from cancer for some time. Sultan Qaboos came to power in a bloodless coup in 1970 when his father was deposed with the assistance of the United Kingdom.

Qaboos was born at the Al-Husn Palace in Salalah on 18 November 1940 as the only son of Sultan Said bin Taimur al-Muazzam, by his second wife, Shaikha Miyzun bint Ahmad al-Qahtani al-Maashani. He was educated among others at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and briefly served in the British army before returning to Oman in 1966. He ruled as an absolute monarch, and he served as both head of state as well as prime minister, supreme commander of the armed forces, minister of defence, minister of finance and minister of foreign affairs. Under his nearly 50 year long reign the country was modernized and the living standards raised, with a lot of help of oil money. He was said to be a stabilizing force in region. In 1996 the Basic Statute of the State of Oman was promulgated.

The late sultan was briefly married from 1976 to 1979 to Sayyida Nawal bint Tariq Al-Said. As the marriage was childless, the question of succession was left to be decided by the Royal Family Council. Article 5 of the Basic Statute says that «The system of governance is Sultani [i.e. Royal], hereditary in the male descendants of Sayyid Turki bin Said bin Sultan, provided that whomever is to be chosen from amongst them as successor shall be a Muslim, mature, rational and the legitimate son of Omani Muslim parents.» The following article said that «The Royal Family Council shall, within three days of the throne falling vacant, determine the successor to the throne. If the Royal Family Council does not agree on a choice of a Sultan for the Country, the Defence Council together with the Chairman of Majlis Al Dawla Dawla [State Council], the Chairman of Majlis Al Shura Shura [Shura Council], and the Chairman of the Supreme Court along with two of his most senior deputies, shall instate the person designated by His Majesty the Sultan in his letter to the Royal Family Council».

Early on 11 January 2020 the Royal Family Council decided to open the sealed envelope in which Sultan Qaboos had left his choice, instead of entering proceedings to elect the successor in accordance with Article 6. The opening of the envelope was broadcast on Omani TV. Qaboos' designated heir was his first cousin Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq bin Taimur al-Muazzam, who has served as Minister of Heritage and Culture for 18 years. Soon after the election the new Sultan took the oath in accordance with the Basic Statute Article 7. Sultan Haitham, who is born in 1954 and has been educated at Oxford, said in a TV speech that he «pledged to continue his predecessor's policies of friendly relations with all nations while further developing the country». Sultan Haitham is married and has four children.

The funeral of Sultan Qaboos took place soon after the installation of the new Sultan. Qaboos was laid to rest at the Royal Cemetery  (Times of Oman says the cemetery is in Baushar, while The Oman Observer writes Ghala). The funeral was attended by Sultan Haitham, other members of the royal family as well as military leaders, members of the State Council and members of the Shura Council.

Due to the death of Sultan Qaboos, who at the time was no. 3 on the list of longest reigns among the current monarchs, my website has been updated. The new sultan has naturally been placed on the bottom, while Queen Margrethe II of Denmark has taken over the no. 3 spot.

(I note that while most sources use Al Said as the house name of the royal family of Oman, Royal Ark write al-Muazzam. In this blog article I have followed Royal Ark, but I might not be consistent about it in the future. I am indepted to Christopher Buyers' Royal Ark for information on the Omani royal family.)

Postscript 12 January 2020: Concerning the location of the royal cemetery, follow the link to the Google map. The royal cemetery seems to be in the Ghala village, but not far from Bawshar/Bawshar Heights. Another interesting aspect is of course the transcription of Arabic into the Latin alphabet. I have seen both Bausher and Baushar as well as Ghallah. For whatever it is worth, the English version of Wikipedia uses Ghallah and Bawshar.

Updated last time on 12 January 2020 at 13.40 (postscript added).

Norway: King Harald remains in hospital

The Norwegian Royal Court informed today that King Harald, who was admitted to the National Hospital two days ago for dizziness, will remain in hospital over the weekend. His health is improving, and he is expected to be discharged next week.

UK: Duke and Duchess of Sussex to step back as senior members of the Royal Family

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex released today the following statement on their official website and Instagram account:

“After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution. We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family, and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen. It is with your encouragement, particularly over the last few years, that we feel prepared to make this adjustment. We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages. This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity. We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course, as we continue to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge, and all relevant parties. Until then, please accept our deepest thanks for your continued support.”

Their Royal Highnesses, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex

The statement comes after the couple had taken some time off in the fall of 2019. I feel both a bit surprised and a bit sad following the news. I personally feel they are a great asset to «the Firm». The couple's relationship with the public started so well, and they are in my opinion only partly to blame for the the developments and downfall in 2019. The Duchess especially has not been treated fairly by the press or in the social media.

Obviously it is too easy to say much at present about what the new role will actually mean. The couple will still make engagements on behalf of the Queen. But the statement becomes more clouded following the press release from the Royal Communications later tonight:

Stateement on discussions with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex

Discussions with The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are at an early stage. We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through.

One easily get the impression that the couple had not consulted their family, or at least that the discussions were not completed, before the statement was released, and that the statement was thus premature. The couple writes, however, that «We look forward to sharing the full details of this exciting next step in due course, as we continue to collaborate with Her Majesty The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge, and all relevant parties.» [The italics are mine.] Either way it is of course easy to jump to conclusions, and one doesn't have to spend much time on Twitter to know that people are going into a frenzy over the news. It is perhaps a wise idea to step back for a while and wait for more details. In the end the «different approach» might bring positive changes for everyone involved. Time will show.

Norway: King Harald admitted to hospital

The Norwegian Royal Court announced earlier today that King Harald, who will celebrate his 83rd birthday in February, has been admitted to Rikshospitalet (The National Hospital) in Oslo due to dizziness. No serious illness has been found. The king, who is expected to be discharged before the weekend, will be on sick leave for two weeks. Crown Prince Haakon will as usual act as regent in the meantime.

The annoucement comes only two days after the news that the king had called off an engagement – the opening of the Johan Sverdrup oil field in the North Sea on 7 January – due to the strain of the the last days. The strain was of course connected to the mourning following the tragic death of the king's former son-in-law, Ari Behn, on Christmas Day.

King Harald was also on sick leave a few days before Christmas due to a virus infection.

See also the report published by Newsinenglish.no today.