Why we love them so much

Category: Ramblings | Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:17 am

How come a modern society like Norway keep a Royal house? Why, indeed. Norway was under Danish and Swedish rule for centuries, albeit we had a large degree of self-government. Finally, in 1905, we cut ourselves loose, removed the Swedish herring salad from our flag and started to build our own government.

And the Norwegian people wanted a King. Not any old King, mind, but someone with the proper ancestry. So we fetched Prince Carl from Denmark. He didn't want to come until the Norwegian people had voted, and Monarchy won with 79%. He changed his name to Haakon VII and moved here with his wife Maude from the English Royal house, and his small son, our future King Olav V.

The Swedish Royalty are mere upstarts compared to the rest of the European royals. Jean Baptiste Bernadotte was a Pontecorvo, France noble and one of Napoleon's generals. He ruled Sweden under the name Karl XIV Johan from 1818. One of their descendants became King Haakon's mother, so even the Swedish connection was in order.

King Haakon VII went wholeheartedly in for Norway, and his actions during WWII endeared him to all, even the staunchest anti-royalist. When he passed away, his son Olav had big shoes to fill.

He proceeded to do so admirably. He was wont to walk around with no sight of security guarding him. He boarded the tram to go skiing during the petrol crisis in the -70's, and insisted on paying his fare like everybody else. When visiting the USA he complained about the restrictions given him by the security people. Ã‚Â« At home I don't need security guards, I've got four million of them!Ã‚Â» When he passed away the Norwegian people flooded the Castle Square with candles, flowers, poems, drawings and other tokens of the loss we all felt. A totally un-Norwegian behaviour.

Our present king, Harald V, was very humble when taking up his work. He is overshadowed by two giants, but we watch him grow every year. He's both royal, human and humane. He's also very busy. Whenever Norway wants to send someone to some do or other, but don't rightly know who to send, we send the Royals. They're not political, but they are respected and open doors everywhere. And they're not too expensive to keep. They are ours, we elected them and most of us want to keep them!

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Comments

eileen wrote on Sat Oct 27, 2007 12:01 pm:

I'm finding your blog entries fascinating Droopy. I knew very little about Norway until I began to read them so please keep them coming won't you?

purlgold wrote on Sat Oct 27, 2007 1:20 pm:

Love your descriptions and information, please keep it up. I have been many places in the world, but never to Norway, as you blog, I surf the net for pics and more info.
Thanks
D

Frank wrote on Sat Oct 27, 2007 1:54 pm:

I never even knew that royalty existed in Sweden before moving here and only recently have I figured out that Norway has it too. Thanks for the history lesson Droopy, I hated history in school but coming from you it helped :)

Droopy wrote on Sat Oct 27, 2007 4:34 pm:

Thank you for nice comments, I'm blushing now... I write my entries mainly to explain us Norwegians, and history is a big part of us. Can't figure out why, though.

Frank, you can't have missed the lovely Swedish princesses! The Crown Princess Victoria is a real beauty, and her little sister Madeleine is so lovely.

Frank wrote on Sat Oct 27, 2007 6:23 pm:

Oh I haven't missed them Droopy. I have joked on occasion that I'm going to marry Victoria and by some strange unearthed law become King of Sweden :) Not sure if that's going to happen though.

Droopy wrote on Sat Oct 27, 2007 7:04 pm:

I found myselv envisioning a garden gnome being crowned the King of Sweden and realized I actually liked the idea. Don't tell them, I'll be black-listed forever. :-D