'Sonja, Queen of Norway' (née Sonja Haraldsen, born
July 4 1937 in
Oslo) is the
queen consort of
Norway, wife of King
Harald V of Norway. She is styled '''HM The Queen'''.
A
commoner, the daughter of Karl August Haraldsen and his wife, née Dagny Ulrichsen, she became engaged to then Crown Prince Harald in
March 1968. They had been dating for nine years, although this had been kept secret because of opposition to her non-royal status. After the Crown Prince threatened to give up his rights to the throne unless he could marry her, the Crown Prince's father,
Olav V consulted the government for advice. The result was that the couple were wed on
August 29,
1968, in
Oslo.
In
1982 she was awarded the
Nansen Refugee Award.
Following the death of King Olav V on
January 17,
1991, Sonja became Norway's first queen consort in 53 years. She and King Harald have two children,
Princess Märtha Louise married to
Ari Behn and
Crown Prince Haakon Magnus married to
Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby.
In 2005, queen Sonja became the first queen ever to visit
Antarctica—queen was there to open the Norwegian
Troll research station in the country's Antarctic dependency,
Queen Maud Land. The Queen flew in on one of the
Royal Norwegian Air Force's C-130H Hercules transport aircraft, landing at
Troll airfield.
King Harald V and queen Sonja have four grandchildren: HRH
Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway,
Prince Sverre Magnus of Norway (born
3 December 2005),
Maud Angelica Behn and
Leah Isadora Behn. They also have one step-grandchild, the Crown Princess's son,
Marius Borg Høiby.
In
2007, both she received the
Holmenkollen medal with
Frode Estil,
Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, and her husband, King Harald V. They are the fourth husband-wife team and two of only eleven non-Nordic skiers to do so. This included her late father-in-law
King Olav V (1968), his late father
King Haakon VII (
1955),
Jacob Vaage, and
Ingemar Stenmark, among others.
External link
★
2007 Holmenkollen medalists announced - Accessed March 18, 2007.
★
Holmenkollen medal presented to Estil and Hjelmeset - Accessed March 21, 2007