The Future of the Norwegian Monarchy

[Mbruno]

The best possible thing right now would be if the King could convince Martha-Louise to renounce her rights and titles before she gets married without his having to take action against her. It would solve a lot of problems for the royal family, and it would demonstrate to the public how much respect she has for her father and the institution.

I don't think that there is any provision in the Norwegian constitution that allows voluntary renunciation of titles or succession rights. Titles of people in the line of succession are a prerogative of the King under the constitution, so the King (and, in my understanding, only he) can rescind or change those titles at any time. Succession rights, on the other hand, are forefeited when a person in the line of succession marries without the King's consent. In that case, the descendants of the person who married without consent are also excluded from the line of succession.

A different, and often controversial discussion, is whether "the King" in the constitution means the King personally, or, as some scholars argue, "the King in Council", i.e., the government of Norway. King Harald V has said that, when it comes to royal marriages, he sees Art. 36 of the constitution as his personal prerogative, but, in my personal and irrelevant opinion, in a constitutional monarchy, the task of advising the King to consent to a royal marriage or not should fall on the government. That is why I think that different Norwegian governments in my opinion are equally to blame for any alleged "permissiveness" in the approval of certain royal marriages in Norway, including Haakon's marriage to MM, or ML's two marriages to Ari Behn and Durek Verrett.

 

[Royalist.in.NC]

Here is an interesting article:

Norway slims down monarchy after princess weds shaman

Princess Martha Louise and her three children have been named on the ‘other royals’ list, while her husband, Durek Verrett, does not appear at all

www.thetimes.com

 

[Somebody]

I cannot read it as it is behind a paywall but the first sentence is already incorrect (ML's children aren't named on the 'other royals' list and both the three daughter (no picture) as well as her former and current husband (with picture) are mentioned in her biography), so I am not sure the rest of the article will be very informative.

See: Prinsesse Märtha Louise

 

[Royalist.in.NC]

I cannot read it as it is behind a paywall but the first sentence is already incorrect (ML's children aren't named on the 'other royals' list and both the three daughter (no picture) as well as her former and current husband (with picture) are mentioned in her biography), so I am not sure the rest of the article will be very informative.

See: Prinsesse Märtha Louise

I don’t subscribe to the Times so I didn’t realize - sorry. Here is a small excerpt. It’s weird that they got the lead wrong while the article states below:

“On Tuesday that changed. While the members of the “Royal Palace” remain the same, the monarchy has dropped the broader “Royal Family” designation. That means, Princess Martha Louise is now simply listed under “other royals”, while her extended family, including Verrett, are off the list entirely.

A spokeswoman for the palace said that the changes were nothing more than a “clarification” of roles. The palace line is that this has nothing to do with Verrett, but many Norwegians aren’t buying that.

“I’m just laughing,” said Tove Taalesen, the royal correspondent for Norwegian online newspaper Nettavisen and a former palace attendant, “of course this is to do with Durek and Martha Louise.”

 

[LadyFinn]

Haakon was asked in the county visit to clarify whether Märtha Louise and Durek broke the agreement not to use the princess title in commercial contexts, when they sold the rights to their wedding to the Hello! and Netflix.
Haakon said:
- We will have a further conversation about the agreement, and assume that the agreement will be followed. Now we will have an internal process, but it may take some time.

Kronprinsen svarer ikke på om prinsesse Märtha Louise brøt avtalen med kongehuset

– Vi skal ha en intern prosess, sier kronprins Haakon om hvorvidt søsteren Märtha Louise har brutt avtalen om ikke å bruke prinsessetittelen kommersielt.

www.adressa.no

 

[Muhler]

How many conversations have they had so far? I lost count. Is it six or seven?

 

[Somebody]

So far just assuming that the agreement would be followed didn’t work out, so you would hope they come up with a different strategy at some point.