The Norwegian Royal Family
King Harald V
Queen Sojna
The Kingdom of Norway:
Norway is a constitutional monarchy, which means that the constitution decrees that the country shall be ruled by a monarch. The king and his family have no real political power but are an important symbol and mean a great deal to the people.
The Storting is Norway's national assembly and consists of 165 representatives from 19 counties. General elections are held every 4 years. The Storting passes laws and decides how the national income should be spent. The Government is led by a Prime Minister who has 18 ministers to assist in the running of the country.
His Majesty King Harald V:
King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway started their reign on the 17 January 1991, when the much beloved King Olav V of Norway died.
The family:
King Harald is the son of King Olav V (1903-1991) and Crown Princess Märtha (1901-1954). King Olav was son of King Haakon VII (1872-1957) and Queen Maud (1869-1938). King Haakon was Prince Carl of Den-mark before he was elected King of Norway in 1905. Queen Maud was the daughter of the Prince of Wales, later to become King Edward VII, and Queen Alexandra of Britain. King Harald's mother was the daughter of the Swedish Prince Carl (1861-1951) and Princess Ingeborg (1878-1958).Raised to be a king:
Prince Harald was raised to carry out the duties to which he was born. On the one hand he was prepared for a life as custodian of royal traditions. On the other, he grew up with strong personal ties to the people and to his own time, in keeping with the tradi-tions of modern constitutional monarchies.
King Harald V of Norway is the first born Norwegian king since King Olav IV was born her in 1370. As Crown Prince of Norway he married Sonja Haraldsen, a commoner, in 1968. By decision of the Government and the Storting it was decided that Sonja would be allowed to become Crown Princess of Norway and future Queen.
Two children:
The marriage of Harald and Sonja took place in August 1968. The couple's first child, Märtha Louise, was born on 22 September 1971, and the second, Prince Haakon, on 20 July 1973, who is the Crown Prince.
Prince Haakon
A strong monarchy:
The deep commitment shown by King Olav and the then Crown Prince and Crown Princess is one of the reasons the monarchy has such a strong position in Norway today. Another reason is the significance of the Royal Family as a symbol of social stability and political continuity in politically turbu-lent times. And above all, the Royal Family is a symbol of unity, which proved extremely important during the Second World War.
The Royal Family
King Olav V (b. 1903 - d. 1991)
~Norway~
