Margaret Weatherford Column

Sunday 1 May 2005

A Century of Norwegian Royalty

This year is the centennial of Norway�s independence from Sweden on June 7, 1905. This is not to be confused with the Norwegian national holiday, Constitution Day or Syttende Mai, on May 17, which marks Norway�s independence from Denmark and adoption of its own constitution in 1814. Norway was forced into union with Sweden in 1814 but retained the constitution. When the union with Sweden became unworkable in 1905, a referendum confirmed that the Norwegian people wanted independence, and the Swedish government dissolved the union. In another vote Norway decided to become a constitutional monarchy, and a few days later the Norwegian parliament invited Prince Carl of Denmark to become king of Norway.

Prince Carl was the younger son of the future King Frederik VII of Denmark and the grandson of King Christian IX, whose determination to place their descendants on the thrones of Europe rivaled that of their contemporary Queen Victoria. Their devoted daughter Alexandra married the future King Edward VII, while her brother George was elected King of Greece. (Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip are descended from Alexandra and George respectively.) Prince Carl was married to his first cousin, Edward and Alexandra�s daughter Maud. Carl was known as �Charles� in England, while Maud was nicknamed �Harry.� Maud was a better Queen of Norway than she had been a princess of Denmark; during the early years of her marriage she remained in England as much as she could. She found Copenhagen very boring, and lacking in sophisticated people who could appreciate her fashionable clothes. Incidentally, there is an exhibit of Queen Maud�s clothes at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London now.

A few months ago, Norwegian historian Tor Bomann-Larsen published Folket (The People), a biography of King Haakon and Queen Maud, claiming that he was not the father of their son, Prince Alexander, later King Olav V. They had been childless for six years before his birth in 1903, and Prince Carl was in Denmark while Princess Maud was in England at the most likely time for his conception. However, this seems to have been the result not of an extramarital fling but of a stay at the clinic of royal doctor Sir Francis Laking, who may have artificially inseminated Maud, possibly with his own sperm or that of his son, Guy Francis Laking, who bore a strong resemblance to King Olav. (Guy Francis Laking became Keeper of the King�s Armoury and published a history of armor.) This seems the height of irresponsibility for a couple who later took the throne of Norway and were heirs to the thrones of England and Denmark as well. Presumably, in an age of more deference and no DNA testing, they simply assumed they would not get caught. When Prince Carl accepted the Norwegian throne in 1905, little Prince Alexander was renamed Olav and named the heir to the throne by the Norwegian parliament, so his succession to the throne was valid even if Prince Carl was not his father.

It is probably just as well if this theory is true. Not only were Haakon and Maud first cousins themselves, as the grandchildren of King Christian IX and Queen Louise of Denmark, but her grandparents, Victoria and Albert, were first cousins. King Olav married Princess Martha of Sweden, who was his first cousin (and also second cousin once removed) if King Haakon was his father. The current king of Norway, Olav and Martha�s son Harald, abandoned this tradition by marrying Sonia Haraldsen, the daughter of a Norwegian shopkeeper. King Olav initially did not approve of the marriage, which is ironic if he was the son of a commoner himself. As we all know, Crown Prince Haakon, the current heir to the Norwegian throne, married the controversial single mother Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby in 2001, and they are now expecting their second child. She has turned out to be an excellent princess.

As if to mark the centennial of Haakon and Maud�s election to the throne, the Crown Princesses of Norway and Denmark both announced their pregnancies on April 18. I can�t help wondering if these babies will be a boy and girl, and if they will marry each other. A hundred years ago, that marriage would likely have been arranged for them. Now, if they do decide to marry, it will be because they love each other, and because their families have a great deal in common and a strong friendship. In fact, Crown Prince Frederik was Crown Prince Haakon�s best man.

Norway has now changed the tradition that men come before women in royal succession, so little Princess Ingrid Alexandra will become queen even if she gets a baby brother. Oddly, the law does not apply to the current generation of heirs � Crown Prince Haakon is younger than his sister, Princess Martha Louise. Denmark has not changed the law (yet), so if Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary have a girl she will only be heiress presumptive. (Sweden changed their law when Crown Princess Victoria�s younger brother, Prince Carl Phillip, was two months old.) A century after Haakon and Maud ascended the throne, the Norwegian monarchy is still going strong and enjoying close relationships with the royal families of Denmark, Sweden, and Britain.

- Margaret Weatherford


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