Sonja and Harald's long courtship

[sm1939]

Queen sonja and King Harald , had to wait such a long time to get married ,
after so many years not being able to marry , how where they able to change the mind of the King ???? and why was he so against it in the first places??

 

[bbb]

http://personales.ya.com/fororeal/enfrnor.htm
i googled Queen Sonya+King Harald and got lots of hits
hope this answers some of your questions.

 

[hrhcp]

... and why was he so against it in the first places??

Because in Daddy's eyes, you had to get married to a real princess, not one who became princess by default upon marriage.

And then, it was a case of perservering, sticking it out to show and demonstrate the commitment, and thus waiting for Daddy to come around. At one instance, I understand that Crown Prince and his love to be 'separated', but not for long.

 

[norwegianne]

Because in Daddy's eyes, you had to get married to a real princess, not one who became princess by default upon marriage.

And then, it was a case of perservering, sticking it out to show and demonstrate the commitment, and thus waiting for Daddy to come around. At one instance, I understand that Crown Prince and his love to be 'separated', but not for long.

To be fair - it wasn't just in Daddy's eyes - but a lot of the population and around in Europe. It was okay that Princess Ragnhild and Princess Astrid married commoners, as they weren't/aren't in line to the throne - though there was a bit of a spetacle with Astrid as Johan Martin Ferner'd been married and divorced before. But the Crown Prince? It was unheard of, and there were radio talk-shows and newspaper editorials and letters about Sonja's unsuitability.

 

[sm1939]

http://personales.ya.com/fororeal/enfrnor.htm
i googled Queen Sonya+King Harald and got lots of hits
hope this answers some of your questions.

THanks for that info!

gosh! just think ifthey hadnt been allowed to marry , Norway would of missed on a fab Queen !!

 

[KikkiB]

THanks for that info!

gosh! just think ifthey hadnt been allowed to marry , Norway would of missed on a fab Queen !!

I doubt that we would have had the king we have either. The Glucksburg men are serious when it comes to their love.

 

[sm1939]

I doubt that we would have had the king we have either. The Glucksburg men are serious when it comes to their love.

they are arent they ! Him and his son, must say also King Olav V had a passion for his wife too , its so strange that he didnt understand his son's love for Queen sonja ? and made them wait so long !!!!!!!!!!! I think it might have been diffrent if Martha has still been alife ???

 

[KikkiB]

they are arent they ! Him and his son, must say also King Olav V had a passion for his wife too , its so strange that he didnt understand his son's love for Queen sonja ? and made them wait so long !!!!!!!!!!! I think it might have been diffrent if Martha has still been alife ???

That might be, but at the same time Olav did marry a princess, so there weren't really an issue there. It didn't necessarily have anything to do with how strong the love was, Olav just happen to fall in love with a princess, and Harald not. And since there weren't anyone who had done that in Norway before (with the young age of the monarchy) I guess the King had to look at how such things were handeled in Europe at the time. My guess is that it was this that dragged things out for Sonja and Harald, back in the days. Lack of exprerience with such things and the people's opinion on it.

Thankfully, times have changed, so there weren't much ado (compared to the King and Queen anyway) when Haakon and Mette-Marit married. Though Haakon also threatened to give up his right to the throne, if he didn't get his way....

...which would lead to this scenario, Prince Consort Ari . Dunno how that would have worked out...

 

[sm1939]

Thankfully, times have changed, so there weren't much ado (compared to the King and Queen anyway) when Haakon and Mette-Marit married. Though Haakon also threatened to give up his right to the throne, if he didn't get his way....

...which would lead to this scenario, Prince Consort Ari . Dunno how that would have worked out...

Gosh ! wonder if Martha louise would of been allowed to marry Ari , if Haakon had left the throne??

 

[Larzen]

Gosh ! wonder if Martha louise would of been allowed to marry Ari , if Haakon had left the throne??

Im sure they would have been allowed to marry, wether Ari would have wanted the extremely restricted position it would have been beeing married to the future Queen is another matter. It would have castrated him as an author and he could not have been so outspoken and liberal as he is today. Beeing married to the Princess who is number 4 and counting in line is completely different from beeing married to number 1 in line. They lead a relativly private life, or as private as they want to, as both thrive on attention IMO.

 

[hrhcp]

they are arent they ! Him and his son, must say also King Olav V had a passion for his wife too , its so strange that he didnt understand his son's love for Queen sonja ? and made them wait so long !!!!!!!!!!! I think it might have been diffrent if Martha has still been alife ???

I didn't know King Olav's "passion" had been so strong about his future wife.

And that makes three of them ... with Prince Haakon avowing to pass on kingdom if he wasn't allowed to marry the fair Mette-Marit.

 

[Her_Majesty]

I heard King Olav didn't want to meet Sonja before 1967!
That's quite a long time! I mean, Harald and Sonja have been a couple for 8 years than!
how was Sonja's and Olav's relationship after they met?

 

[Anita]

I heard King Olav didn't want to meet Sonja before 1967!
That's quite a long time! I mean, Harald and Sonja have been a couple for 8 years than!
how was Sonja's and Olav's relationship after they met?

I have read somewhere that King Olav didn't want to meet Sonja because he knew that if his son loved her so much, he would like her too . And he didn't want to let his personnal feelings be stronger than his sense of duty and responsability . Anyway, I think that his relationship with Sonja was very good after ! He seemed to like her very much .

 

[norwegianne]

It will be interesting with King Harald's biography coming out later this month, to see how he's dealt with the situation, and if he's mentioned it.

 

[Her_Majesty]

I have read somewhere that King Olav didn't want to meet Sonja because he knew that if his son loved her so much, he would like her too . And he didn't want to let his personnal feelings be stronger than his sense of duty and responsability . Anyway, I think that his relationship with Sonja was very good after ! He seemed to like her very much .

Sounds cute.
When I look at old photos from that time Olav always looks proud of his daughter-in-law.. I think it was a nice gesture that he was walking with her into the church on Harald and Sonja's weddingday..

It will be interesting with King Harald's biography coming out later this month, to see how he's dealt with the situation, and if he's mentioned it

will it be realeased only in norwegian or do you thing there'll be an english version, too?

 

[norwegianne]

will it be realeased only in norwegian or do you thing there'll be an english version, too?

Probably just in Norwegian at first, at least. The Norwegian biographies are rarely translated to English.

 

[sm1939]

Probably just in Norwegian at first, at least. The Norwegian biographies are rarely translated to English.

thats a shame !! pity we couldnt write to the pulisher's out in norway ! asking them to translated it to English !!

 

[Princess_Beatrix]

I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but I have a question:
Did King Harald and Queen Sonja have other partners before they met?

 

[marian]

I think that crown prince Harald was partner of princess Sophie of Greece, now Queen of Spain.

 

[norwegianne]

I think that crown prince Harald was partner of princess Sophie of Greece, now Queen of Spain.

In the press, anyway.

 

[Her_Majesty]

Weren't there also speculations about an engagement of Harald and Irene of Greece?
(in press only, I mean)

 

[Lady Bluffton]

I recently heard something about Harald wanting to divorce Sonja sometime in the 1980s before he became king; was this related somehow to their long courtship, or perhaps interference from King Olav???

 

[sm1939]

I recently heard something about Harald wanting to divorce Sonja sometime in the 1980s before he became king; was this related somehow to their long courtship, or perhaps interference from King Olav???

I read it in the "afterporters" they said that the palace no nothing about it ???
I always thought they were happy??

 

[Maura724]

I have read that King Olav agreed to let Harald marry Sonja after Harald told him he would never marry another woman. Since Harald was the only heir at the time, this obviously have been a serious issue for the future succession.

I have always wondered why it took Harald so long to tell his father this? Couldn't he have given Olav this same ultimatum after he and Sonja had been together for four or five years and been allowed to marry her then, rather than waiting until they had been together nine years?

 

[Odette]

I have read numerous times that Harald was trying to convince King Olav. However when Sonja went to some friends in France and while there tried to commit suicide, Harald became more insistent and gave the ultimatum to K.O who finally not only accepted her, but walked her up the aisle.
I had never heard about the divorce rumours though. What would have been the reason?

 

[norwegianne]

I have read that King Olav agreed to let Harald marry Sonja after Harald told him he would never marry another woman. Since Harald was the only heir at the time, this obviously have been a serious issue for the future succession.

I have always wondered why it took Harald so long to tell his father this? Couldn't he have given Olav this same ultimatum after he and Sonja had been together for four or five years and been allowed to marry her then, rather than waiting until they had been together nine years?

King Olav knew pretty early, but it wasn't just his opinion, but the general opinion of the Norwegian people he had to take into account when he gave his consent. There were also discussions with the various prime ministers during the time, as to *if/when* it could happen.

Hence, it took until after Margrethe in Denmark had also married a commoner, and it looked like Harald would stay a bachelor forever, to sway the opinion enough. And still there were plenty of newspapers/radio shows that were negative about it when the engagement was announced.

I have never read that Sonja tried to commit suicide, but rather that she threw herself into learning French - and that she and Harald tried to stay apart for a while now and then, to see if they could do without each other. Her official biography says something along the lines of that there were some years, that when Harald was in Norway, sonja was abroad, and the opposite.

 

[Odette]

I have never read that Sonja tried to commit suicide, but rather that she threw herself into learning French - and that she and Harald tried to stay apart for a while now and then, to see if they could do without each other. Her official biography says something along the lines of that there were some years, that when Harald was in Norway, sonja was abroad, and the opposite.

I have read about it more than once in different publications. I guess I can google this and find out more.

 

[Maura724]

I have read about it more than once in different publications. I guess I can google this and find out more.

Do you know where you read it? I've never heard it before.

 

[Her_Majesty]

I never heard about that either. I somehow don't belive it's true.
Just like norwegianne said; I heard that the couple tried to seperate a few times, but always got together again.

 

[Maura724]

It does sound hard to believe. On the other hand, if it's true, it's obviously not the sort of thing that you would expect to be widely publicized.