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President Trump could meet both King Harald and King Carl Gustaf later this year

The thought of Donald Trump and his family mingling and dining with various royals has brought up a lot of aggression and anger throughout Europe. Not only royalists but most others too have strong opinions on if Trump should be able to meet and be solemnly welcomed by Europe’s royals. Trump’s State Visit to the UK has been postponed a number of times and the petition to refused Trump to meet Queen Elizabeth has gained a huge response.

After the last week’s progression in the peace process on the Korean peninsula, many experts have highlights Trumps engagement in the peace process as the clear winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. On Monday, South Koreas president, Moon Jae-in, went so far to endorse Trump as a potential winner of the prestigious peace prize. President Moon then said, “President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize. The only thing we need is peace”.

We all wish that peace again could affect Korea after more than half a century of both cold and worm war. If this also results the disarmament of North Kora nothing could be better. If the planned peace-treaty actually becomes a reality, this makes the Korea-peace this year’s largest peace operation and it becomes difficult to come up with a better alternative for this year’s peace prize.

The royal palace in Oslo where the King receives the winner of Nobel Peace Prize. Photo: Oskar Aanmoen

This would nevertheless create another headache once again for Europe’s royals. If Trump wins this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for his engagement in Korea, this would automatically mean that both King Harald of Norway and King Carl Gustaf of Sweden would have to solemnly receive Trump in an audience at their royal palaces in Oslo and Stockholm.

There are many traditions that must be conducted when the prestigious award is to be distributed. This involves several meetings with the Norwegian and Swedish royals for the award winner. The prize is handed out each year on 10 December in memory of Alfred Nobel’s death.

Before the actual award is handed out, it is tradition that the award winner is welcomed in a solemn audience at the royal palace in Oslo by King Harald, Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette Marit. This visit is usually very short an takes place only 50 minutes before the ceremony continues in Oslo City Hall. It is common for the actual meeting with the royals last between 15 and 30 minutes.

The Royal Palace in Stockholm. Photo: Brorsson (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons

The peace-prize-winner usually arrives together with their spouse, so Melania Trump can also look forward to meeting the royals if her husband becomes a peace-prize-winner. The Royals are then photographed together with the peace-prize-winners in “the bird chamber” before the meeting continues, closed to the public, at King Harald’s office.

The adult members of the Norwegian royal family are then present in Oslo Town Hall during the ceremony and the winner’s speech. That same evening, the Royals are present during the dinner that is arranged annually at the Grand hotel in Oslo city centre. Here too, the Norwegian royals must be photographed with the winners and the peace-prize-winner will have the honour to be seated next to King Harald and Queen Sonja during the dinner.

In Sweden, the Swedish royal Family escapes somewhat easier. Here, it is a common tradition that the Swedish King and Crown Princess Victoria held a solemn audience to the peace-prize-winner about two days after the ceremony is held in Oslo. Sometimes Queen Silvia has also been present during the audience.

The Norwegian royal family arrives at the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo City Hall in 2016. Photo: Oskar Aanmoen.

However, if Trump is to meet with the Swedish monarch, this meeting may be worse than the meeting with the Norwegian King. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Swede has previously made a harsh statement about what he thinks about President Trump. During the climate summit in Paris in 2015, King Carl XVI Gustaf was asked what he thought about the many American politicians, including Trump, who believe that there is no climate change and no global warming. The King thought this was absurd and distant to the reality to think like that.

In order to receive the peace prize, one must be nominated. The deadline for nominating candidates for this year’s peace prize was 31 January. The Norwegian Nobel Institute could confirm that Trump was one of the total 318 nominees for the prize this year. Therefore, if the peace process in Korea is going well, both the Norwegian and Swedish royal families may have to prepare for a meeting with Trump and his family.

The final answer will come in early October when the winner will be announced.

About author

Senior Europe Correspondent Oskar Aanmoen has a master in military and political history of the Nordic countries. He has written six books on historical subjects and more than 1.500 articles for Royal Central. He has also interview both Serbian and Norwegian royals. Aanmoen is based in Oslo, Norway.