King Harald of Norway may be deprived of three boat berths he has at his disposal in Oslo. A long-standing dispute between the Norwegian government and the Sea Centre at Killingen on Bygdøy outside Oslo could lead to the king and several others losing their berths.
One June 7th 2021, another round on the issue started in the court system, after the Ministry of Local Government and Modernization lost the previous round in the Oslo District Court in March last year. With one exception, Sjøsenteret Killingen has won over the state in at least five legal rounds. King Harald still has three boat berths for both winter and summer storage at the sea centre. The trial between the state and Killingen Sea Centre will last all this week.
The dispute is about a floating jetty between Bygdøy and the small island Killingen, where Sea Centre Killingen is located. The state authorities, who are the area’s landowners, want to remove it. Today the Sea Centre has room for somewhere between 400 and 500 berths at this location. King Harald has had strong ties to the Sea Centre at Killingen outside Bygdøy for several decades, as did his father, King Olav.
The king has been sailing for a number of years, and has many merits from his time as Crown Prince. He represented Norway in sailing during the Summer Olympics in 1964, 1968 and 1972, and carried the Norwegian flag during the opening ceremony in Tokyo in 1964. In 1987, the then Crown Prince and his crew became world champions in sailing.
His Majesty the King owns several sailing boats and is an active sailor even though he is more than 80 years old. The Royal Court has not wished to make a comment to the Norwegian press on the ongoing trail. There are long waiting lists for berths in the same area and the king must put himself on a waiting list if he wants a berth in the same area if he is deprived of the berths he now owns. There is an estimated waiting time for a berth in the Oslo region now of 10 years.
