Norway’s King Harald V doesn’t have any immediate plans to take away his daughter’s title as a Norwegian princess, but acknowledges that she has once again violated an agreement to refrain from cashing in on it. He met briefly with reporters after a week of more royal uproar set off by Princess Martha Louise and her new American husband.
All the king really wanted to do when meeting reporters on Thursday was talk about his interest in WWF (World Wildlife Fund). King Harald has always been interested in nature and wildlife, and helped set WWF up as a foundation in Norway “when we were just six or eight people” working on the project. Now it’s a large international organization and on Thursday he met with its leaders on the occasion of its 55th anniversary.
Reporters waiting outside to meet him afterwards, however, were more interested in his reaction to the uproar over the international release of a new film for TV, made as a result of an exclusive commercial agreement his daugher, her husband and Netflix. King Harald confirmed he has seen it, “but I think others must judge its contents.” The documentary has been harshly criticized over its lack of historical perspective and critical portrayal of both himself and Queen Sonja.
The Royal Palace has also confirmed that the film violates the terms of an agreement between Norway’s royal family and the couple that are meant to prevent commercial exploitation of Martha Louise’s royal title. It’s the latest in a string of such violations that weren’t officially addressed until six years ago but go back to the early 2000s, when she lost her designation as “your royal highness.”
“We have to live on, so we will try to do something about this by having more conversations,” King Harald said. When asked what more conversations were worth, since the princess violates them “again and again,” the king took a pause and repeated that “we shall live together the rest of our lives, the crown couple (Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit) must live with this. We must find a solution.”
That won’t immediately include taking away Martha Louise’s title, though, which is something only the king can do: Her title, he said, “isn’t under discussion, for the time being.” That suggested it may be later, and several royal commentors, authors and some of Norway’s largest newspapers have called for it. The couple has issued an apology of sorts tied to the Neftlix film, saying they acknowledged “the seriousness of the situation and the importance of maintaining the integrity” of their agreement with the Royal Palace. The king also said he thinks his daugher and her husband “are more in line with us than it can look like.”
When asked whether he had any plans for Norway’s upcoming autumn holidays, King Harald said he planned to go hunting “from home, in Sikkilsdalen,” referring to a royal mountain farm a few hundred kilometers from Oslo.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
