'Olav V' (
July 2,
1903 –
January 17,
1991) was the
King of Norway from 1957 until his death.
Birth and early life
Born in
Norfolk,
United Kingdom to
Prince Carl of Denmark and
Princess Maud, (daughter of King
Edward VII of the United Kingdom), he was given the names and title of 'Alexander Edward Christian Frederik, Prince of Denmark'. He was given the name 'Olav' when his father became King
Haakon VII of Norway in 1905.
Olav was the first heir to the throne since medieval times to grow up in
Norway. He graduated from the
Norwegian Military Academy in 1924, and went on to study jurisprudence and economics at
Balliol College, Oxford.
He was an accomplished athlete. Olav jumped from the
Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo, and also competed in sailing regattas. He won a gold medal in the
Soling class at the
1928 Summer Olympics in
Amsterdam and remained an active sailor into old age.
On
March 21,
1929, he married his first cousin Princess
Märtha of Sweden with whom he had one son,
Harald, and two daughters,
Ragnhild and
Astrid. As exiles during
World War II, Crown Princess Märtha and the royal children lived in
Washington, D.C., where she struck up a close friendship with
Franklin D. Roosevelt. She died in 1954, before her husband ascended the throne.
During
World War II Olav stood by his father's side in resisting the
occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. When the government decided to go into exile he offered to stay behind with the Norwegian people. As crown prince he had received extensive military training and was respected by other allied leaders for his knowledge and leadership skills. He was appointed to the post of
Norwegian Chief of Defence in 1944 and led the Norwegian disarmament of German occupying forces after the war.
Reign
Succeeding to the Norwegian Throne in 1957 (upon the death of
Haakon VII), Olav reigned as a "People's King", and became extremely popular. He liked to drive his own cars and would drive in the regular highway lanes though he was allowed to drive in the public transportation lane. During the
1973 energy crisis Norway banned car-driving on certain weekends, but the king, not wishing to miss an opportunity to go skiing outside
Oslo, took the tram. When he tried to pay for his tickets, the conductor told him that people further back had already paid for him.
[2] A journalist once asked him if he was afraid to walk around unprotected, he answered, "Why should I be afraid? I have 4 million bodyguards!"—referring to the Norwegian people.
For his athletic ability and role as king, King Olav V earned the
Holmenkollen medal in 1968. He had a strong interest in military matters and took his role as titular commander-in-chief very seriously. As well as his ceremonial roles in the Norwegian Army, he also served as
Colonel-in-Chief of the
Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Yorkshire Regiment).
In 1961 the King was a laureate of the
Nansen Refugee Award.
The king represented Norway extensively abroad during his reign conducting
state visits to both neighbouring countries and more distant destinations such as
Ethiopia. A complete
list of state visits made by King Olav V has been created.
During the summer of 1990, the king suffered from health problems, but recovered somewhat during
Christmas the same year. An interwiew given by king
Harald V, and hints in a biography by the retired politician
Jo Benkow, mentions the possibility that king Olav suffered a great
trauma during the outbreak of the first
Gulf War January 17, 1991. He collapsed during the day and died in the evening. His son claimed that Olav relived the events of the
second World War, which he himself had experienced (the
Nazi occupation of Norway), and really believed that the transmitted messages from the new war foreboded
World War III. This, he could not bear.
The night after he died (at the Royal Lodge,
Kongsseteren) and for several days up until the state funeral, Norway saw a great demonstration of mourning as Norwegians lit hundreds of thousands of candles in the courtyard outside the Royal Castle in Oslo, with letters and cards placed amongst them. The National Archives have preserved all these cards.
Olav's son
Harald V succeeded him as King.
Legacy
A 180 000 km² area (
Prince Olav Coast) and the
Prince Olav Mountains in
Antarctica are named in his honour.
Prince Olav Harbour on
South Georgia is also named for him.
In 2005, Olav was proclaimed the Norwegian of the century, with 41 percent of the votes.
From 1989 to 1991, he was the oldest living great-grandchild of Queen Victoria.
Ancestry
Controversy regarding his biological father
In 2004,
biographer Tor Bomann-Larsen raised the possibility that Haakon VII might not have been the biological father of Olav. Bomann-Larsen provided non-conclusive evidence that Maud could have been made pregnant through
artificial insemination with the semen of either her doctor,
Francis Laking, or his son
Guy Francis Laking.
In a press release from the Royal House it was stated that King Harald "has no information suggesting that King Olav is not the son of King Haakon".
Odd Arvid Storsveen of the
University of Oslo also published a highly critical review of Bomann-Larsen's book.
Titles from birth to death
Here is a list of the styles King Olav bore from birth to death, in chronological order:
★ ''His Highness'' Prince Alexander of Denmark
★ ''His Royal Highness'' The Crown Prince of Norway
★ ''His Majesty'' The King of Norway
References
1. Coronation discarded by constitutional amendment in 1908. Olav V instead received the benediction in the Nidaros Cathedral.
2. Article from NRK on the king Featuring a photo of the event and explanatory text . Retrieved 24 November 2006
External links
★
Official Website of the Norwegian Royal Family
★
King Olav - biography (Official Website of the Norwegian Royal Family)
★
The Royals – Regularly updated news coverage of the Norwegian royal family (''
Aftenposten'')
★
The Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav - H.M. King Olav V the former Grand Master of the Order
★
Holmenkollen medalists - click Holmenkollmedaljen for downloadable pdf file
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