A big anniversary year for the royal couple

King Harald and Queen Sonja.Photo: Lise Åserud / NTB scanpix

In 2017, both King Harald and Queen Sonja will celebrate their 80th birthdays. They will do this jointly on 10 May, in addition to several private and public celebrations.

Queen Sonja and King Harald have already broken a number of records, which are secure, ready for next year. Not unexpectedly, there will be a greater number of winter sports activities for King Harald. In early February, he will attend the Norwegian Championships (NM) for skiing at Lygna Oppland, and royal family will, as usual, be present at the Holmenkollen Ski festival in March.

Before that, however, there will be some birthdays to celebrate. On February 12th, Princess Astrid will be 85 years old, and on February 21st, her brother, King Harald, will become 80 years old.

`It is not certain how the princess` birthday will be celebrated yet. The King will be away on his birthday, and he will celebrate privately. There will be a national celebration for his and the Queen’s 80th birthday anniversaries on May 10th. It will be the government’s gift to them`, said communications manager at the Royal Palace, Marianne Hagen, to the news agency NTB.

Art

On Queen Sonja’s birthday on July 4th, she will inaugurate a new project in Dronningparken. Where the middle part of the stables building was originally built for Queen Maud’s horses, it will be opened to the public, and be named the Queen Sonja Art Gallery. It will be a venue for arts and culture, organized by the Open Castle (Åpent slott).

Both the royal and crown prince couples have a number of fixed tasks every year, such as state and county/regional visits.

`There are plans for a state visit from Iceland to Norway in March`, said Marianne Hagen.

In 2016 the royal couple went on trips to several coastal counties to mark 25 years on the throne. In 2017, they will enjoy an anniversary travels to the hinterland, to various municipalities in Hedmark and Oppland.

Crown prince’s tour of the counties will begin in the autumn, said Hagen.

More anniversaries

Every year, the royal family recognize a number of anniversaries. Next year will partly be dedicated to a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the first Sami congress, held in Trondheim on 6 February 1917. The main highlight will be in the same place, on the same date in 2017.

Finland, over the course of 2017, will mark that it has been independent for 100 years. On June 1, the royal couple will attend the main celebration for that anniversary..

The Crown prince couple will open the year by attending the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) Annual Conference and, a little later, the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

On the more private side, a new era begins when Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s son, Marius Borg Høiby, will be moving to the United States, and Princess Ingrid Alexandra will become a teenager.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today