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Norway

60 royal guests to Norway in 2017

The Norwegian Royal Family goes from one jubilee-year to another year of anniversaries. Both King Harald and Queen Sonja celebrates their eightieth birthday in 2017. King Harald celebrates his birthday on 21 February, while Queen Sonja 4th of July.

In the recent days, it has leaked out information to the Norwegian press about how the King and Queen will celebrate their anniversary. In the past when the King and Queen turned 70 and 75-years-old, they celebrated the day in a common celebration. Probably, they will do so this time, too. The King and Queen want to show off the beautiful Norwegian nature to their guests. According to reliable sources, the King and Queen plan to show their guests the Norwegian inland. It is likely that this will involve a trip with a steamer on Norway’s largest lake, Mjøsa.

The royal guests will most likely experience a trip with this steamship. The ship is Norway’s oldest steamship still in operation and annual thousands of tourists travel up Norway’s largest lake with this ship. Photo: Andrez1 via Wikimedia Commons.

The question is who is on the guest list? The Norwegian weekly magazine Se og Hør claims to have a source that can confirm that 60 royal guests will attend from all of the European royal families. The invitations have already been sent out, but it is still unclear when the celebrations will occur. Probably, the King and Queen will have their celebration in mid-May so the royals who want to experience Norway’s unique national-day-celebration can do so; Norway’s national day is 17 May.

See a video from King Harald’s 70th birthday dinner at the bottom of this article.

The European royal families were well represented when Queen Sonja celebrated 70 years. Here they are on the Norwegian royal ship. Photo: Bjørn Sigurdsøn, The Royal Court /Det Kongelige Hoff.

It is likely that the Norwegian Royal Court will come with an official announcement in January on how this year’s anniversary will be celebrated. Prince Charles was in Norway in 2012 and his siblings Princess Anne and Prince Edward were in Norway when the King and Queen turned 70-years-old. Perhaps Queen Elizabeth will attend here second cousin’s birthday next year?

 

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.