At the invitation of King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands will pay a state visit to Norway in early November. The visit marks the close relationship between Norway and the Netherlands and the two royal houses. More details on the upcoming visit have now been published.
The visit will begin with an official welcome ceremony at the royal palace in Oslo on Tuesday 9 November, followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at Akershus Fortress. Then King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima will visit the Norwegian parliament, the Storting. On Tuesday afternoon, the royal couple will visit the Fram Museum. There they will meet young people and students from Norway and the Netherlands for a conversation about development and future prospects in the Arctic region. Tuesday ends with a gala dinner at the Royal Palace.
On Wednesday 10 November, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima will participate in an event about youth, freedom of expression and hate speech in the Deichman library in downtown Oslo. The royal couple will then meet the new Norwegian prime minister, followed by lunch with the government at Akershus Castle. In the afternoon, there will be talks about Norwegian-Dutch defence cooperation on board the Dutch naval vessel “HMS Rotterdam”, which will be at the quay in Oslo during the visit. On Wednesday night, the Dutch King and Queen welcome their hosts to a concert at the Munch museum in Oslo as a thank you for their stay.
On Thursday 11 November, Crown Prince Haakon will accompany the Dutch royals the city of Trondheim in the middle of Norway, with a program dedicated to technology, research and business cooperation. The day will begin on the harbour, where the research organizations SINTEF and NTNU will highlight the opportunities that lie in the sea. In the afternoon, the King and Queen will visit the university campus at Gløshaugen. Norwegian and Dutch researcher will meet to discuss cooperation in energy conversion, carbon capture, carbon storage and hydrogen.
The State Visit will conclude with a choral concert in Nidaros Cathedral.
