Whether playing football with football star Erling Haaland, at official events or privately hiking in the almost endless Norwegian nature: Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon has learned to cut a good figure in a wide variety of situations.
The son of the head of state King Harald V. and Queen Sonja (both 86) and his wife Crown Princess Mette-Marit (49) have long since become a figurehead of the Norwegian royal family, which the Oslo court can rely on just as much as the entire nation. On July 20, Haakon, who will one day most likely be King of Norway, will be 50 years old.
Summer greetings from the far north
Barely a month after him, Mette-Marit is also celebrating her 50th birthday, with which the crown prince couple will make 100 together this summer. “That’s a good thing. We’re almost in the middle of life,” Haakon said in the spring of the Norwegian news agency NTB. To celebrate the round double birthday, the couple has since traveled to different regions of the country.
“We thought it would be nice to travel around a bit and experience some of Norway with others,” said Haakon. A few days ago, he and his family sent a few summer greetings from the far north of the country via Instagram, where they traveled with the royal ship “Norge”. “The crown prince family wishes you a nice summer,” said the summery pictures of Haakon, Mette-Marit and their two grown children, Princess Ingrid Alexandra (19) and Prince Sverre Magnus (17).
The big birthday party finally follows on August 25: On their 22nd wedding anniversary, Haakon and Mette-Marit invite you to a “backyard party” at Oslo Castle. In addition to their 50th birthdays, their Scandinavian homeland should also be celebrated: “Together with people from all over the country, the crown prince couple would like to take the opportunity to celebrate Norway, which we have helped to shape in these 50 years,” said the two announce in advance.
Down to earth
Casual, modern and down-to-earth: like other royal families, the Norwegians try to keep their feet on the ground as much as possible. Haakon and Mette-Marit are excellent at this. Her family is considered sincere, warm and up-to-date, which she showed once again at an annual football game against a team that aims to bring people with different disabilities together: Haakon, Mette-Marit, Ingrid Alexandra and Sverre Magnus puten in heavy rain at times, but lost again in the end, despite support from national team captains Maren Mjelde and Martin Ødegaard. In 2022, Erling Haaland was also part of such a game.
Playing football together instead of public quarrels: scandals, such as those experienced by the British royal family, are largely alien to the royals in Oslo. Only isolated controversies about Haakon’s sister Princess Märtha Louise (51) and her partner, the shaman Durek Verrett (48), have caused some unrest.
The crown prince family, on the other hand, always appears solid – Haakon often as a sporty, nature-loving and environmentally conscious heir to the throne who loves surfing and skiing, likes to listen to music and sometimes rides his bike to the castle. Meanwhile, Mette-Marit is considered a great lover of literature, who also cares about life in the fresh air. When traveling abroad, the two are often accompanied by business or cultural delegations. The family is at home in the Skaugum residence, almost 25 kilometers west of Oslo.
Haakon steps in
Incidentally, Märtha Louise is almost two years older than Haakon, who was born in Oslo on July 20, 1973. Only a constitutional amendment in 1990 made it possible for female firstborns to become heads of state. However, since this is not retroactive, Haakon will one day inherit the throne from his father, not his older sister.
Haakon already regularly fills in for his royal father at official appointments and events. This is not least due to the fact that the king is getting on in years, has been walking with a cane for some time and has had to be treated in the hospital from time to time in the recent past. If Harald is absent or traveling, Haakon is there.
“They are very efficient, they are taking on more and more of our duties and they are helping us a lot,” the king said of his son and daughter-in-law during a visit to Denmark in June. He and his wife Sonja are sure that Haakon will be up to the future job as king. In the distant future, Harald’s granddaughter Ingrid Alexandra, who recently graduated from school after 13 years, will sit on the throne – as the first female head of state in Norway.
