It is not every day a Crown Prince jumps from a bridge. Nevertheless, this is what Crown Prince Haakon of Norway did this week.
The Norwegian Crown Prince jumped from a bridge when he visited Øygarden in western Norway on 9 February.
It was on the occasion of a visit to the Dale-Oen Centre that the stunt took place. The 48-year-old action-loving royal admitted that he felt a little nervous before jumping from a height of nine metres into the sea with a temperature of two degrees Celcius.
The Crown Prince Couple’s Fund has supported the Dale-Oen Centre since 2020, but due to the global health situation, this is the first time the Crown Prince’s was able to visit the Dale-Oen Centre in Øygarden.
After the jump, the Crown Prince reflected on the experience, together with the young people. After the big jump, His Royal Highness said: “I felt a certain amount of pressure today. I have respect for heights. Now my pulse is going down. It was higher when I stood on the bridge.”
“Here at Dale Oen Academy we do not give grades. We build character,” said Robin Dale Oen, who, together with his wife Vibeke, is behind the Dale Oen Centre. According to the Royal Court, the centre “allows school-going young people to experience new things and to be accepted by challenging themselves, mentally and physically, in nature.”
Crown Prince Haakon next tour travelled to the leisure program “Flyt” at Ny-Krohnborg school and activity centre in Bergen – the largest city in western Norway.
This is a life mastery program that the Crown Prince Couple’s Fund offers in collaboration with 13 municipalities around the country. The theme for the gathering is stress management, and Crown Prince Haakon participated in group work with some tenth-graders. They had a free conversation about what it is like to cope with life as a young person in Norway and what it is like to be young in Norway in a modern age.