Norway had to conduct its second royal funeral in just two weeks on Wednesday. The late King Harald’s elder sister, Princess Astrid, was laid to rest in a public ceremony at her local church in Oslo, and mourners were lining up to attend hours before it began.
Princess Astrid, age 94, had remained active to the end, and attended funeral services for her younger brother on September 9. She died just two days later, and her nephew, the new King Haakon VIII, was among those carrying her coffin out of Ris Church on Wednesday, along with his cousins.
Princess Astrid had earlier served as Norway’s “first lady” for 14 years, from the time her mother, the former Crown Princess Martha, died in 1954 until her younger brother Harald married Sonja Haraldsen in 1968. She helped her widowed grandfather, King Haakon VII, until he died in 1957 and then her widowed father when he became King Olav. Her own older sister Princess Ragnhild had moved to Brazil with her shipowner husband, so “first lady” duties fell to Astrid, also after she was finally allowed to marry the divorced commoner Johan Martin Ferner in 1961.
She had to wait nearly as long as her brother Harald did to marry the people they loved, because of royal restrictions at the time. She went on to have five children while also serving as royal hostess at the palace and representing Norway abroad. She was still a royal patron for 12 organizations when she died, promoting their causes that ranged from dyslexia to Downs Syndrome, music and sports.
“It means a lot to me,” she told officials at the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra in connection with an international music prize she supports. Her nephew King Haakon and many others referred to her as loyal and hard-working, often accompanied by a small dog sitting in her lap. She loved animals and the outdoors.
Funeral guests on Wednesday included royal family members from Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. The entire Norwegian royal family was present, and Jens Stoltenberg spoke on behalf of the Norwegian government. He hailed her “strong personality, firm opinions, good humour and warmth,” in addition to how hard she worked representing Norway at home and abroad.
“She took on great responsibility,” Stoltenberg said, adding that she was interested in and keen to discuss everything from international politics to sports results. Stoltenberg, a former prime minister and NATO chief who now serves as finance minister for Norway, also had a personal connection to Princess Astrid: His father Thorvald Stoltenberg had been president of the high school graduating class (known as russ) in 1950 that included the princess. Stoltenberg’s father had shared memories of meetings at the royal residence “where they had to find a way to combine partying with etiquette.”
More than anything, Stoltenberg added, Princess Astrid was “the ‘big sister’ and King Harald was her ‘little brother,'” and that order lasts throughout life. “Astrid looked after Harald,” Stoltenberg said, concluding that the nation was “deeply grateful” for her service over the years.
Funeral services included attendance of royal guards at her flag-draped coffin, musical interludes featuring the Norwegian boys’ choir known as Sølvguttene,” and the prominent Norwegian singer Sissel Kyrkjebø. The princess will be buried alongside her late husband in the graveyard outside the church.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
