Norway’s 89-year-old Queen Sonja was back on the job this week, right after the official mourning period for her husband, the late King Harald V, ended on October 9. She no longer carries the additional title of “Her Majesty,” but will continue to represent the royal family.
Queen Sonja’s daughter-in-law Mette-Marit has become “Her Majesty the Queen,” so now Norway officially has two queens. That can help with representation duties, since Mette-Marit remains out on sick leave until next summer.
Royal Palace staff published a notice on Monday that “The Royal House” now includes only the sitting monarch, his or her spouse and the heir to the throne that’s next in line to the monarch. King Harald was officially succeeded by his son, “His Majesty King Haakon VIII,” while Haakon’s spouse became “Her Majesty Queen Mette-Marit” and their oldest child, “Her Royal Highness Ingrid Alexandra.”
Sonja retains the “Queen” title, though, and on Monday she represented the family at Norway’s National Archives in Oslo. That’s where all the cards, photos, letters and various memorabilia placed outside the Royal Palace to honour the late king have been stored.
Palace staff and gardeners carefully preseved every single document left by mourning Norwegians, especially all the children who drew pictures and left their own tokens of appreciation. That included stuffed animals, trinkets, toys, caps and even football jerseys.
“It’s so touching,” Queen Sonja said as she examined selected items put out by the public even before the king died. The grounds outside the Royal Palace in Oslo served as a gathering place for tens of thousands of Norwegians during the period following the king’s final hospitalization, his death on August 28 and funeral on September 9.
His widow thanked everyone involved in contributing to and taking care of the tributes to her late husband of almost 58 years. Their wedding anniversary would have been on August 29.
“People can still write,” Queen Sonja wryly noted, grateful that not everything is digital, “and I hope that continues.” She was given a selection of items placed at the palace to take home with her, while all the rest will be (or already has been) recorded and preserved in the archives complex near Sognsvann in Oslo that was built to survive an atomic blast.
Queen Sonja will also travel to Malaga later this month, to attend the opening of an exhibit at the Picasso Museum. The new exhibit features more than 100 works by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863-1944) and Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). It’s based on Munch’s art that’s on loan from the Munch museum (MUNCH) and the National Museum in Oslo, the Kode museums in Bergen and other museums in France, Spain, Great Britain and Austria.
The queen, an artist herself, will also visit Den Norske Skolen (The Norwegian School) in Arroyo de la Miel in Benalmadena, where she’ll meet pupils and employees and learn what the school means for the Norwegian community in Costa del Sol.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
