On Monday, Their Majesties the King and Queen and Their Royal Highnesses The Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Norway were all in Oslo for the presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2018. The winner this year was Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad. In their statement, the Nobel Peace Prize committee wrote: “The Nobel Peace Prize 2018 was awarded jointly to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad “for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.”
Before the official ceremony at Oslo City Hall, King Harald held an audience with Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad at the Royal Palace. The audience was also attended by Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon. Since 1901, the Nobel Prizes have been presented to Nobel Laureates at ceremonies on 10 December, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death. In Stockholm, winners receive the Nobel Prize medal and diploma from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden while in Oslo laureates receive the Nobel Peace Prize from the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in the presence of King Harald V of Norway.
The awards ceremony was as usually held in the Central Hall of Oslo City Hall. It is a royal rule that the Royal Family are the last to come into the town hall’s large banqueting hall. At all public events, the King’s arrival is to be notified by soldiers from His Majesty the King’s Guard playing the fanfare “The King is Coming”.
The ceremony was followed by the Nobel Peace Prize Banquet at the Grand Hotel in Oslo, with Their Majesties the King and Queen and Their Royal Highnesses the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Norway in attendance. According to the programme published by the Royal Court, the Crown Princess was not due to attend the events. However, luckily she was well enough to attend. It was revealed earlier this year that the Crown Princess had an illness called chronic pulmonary fibrosis. The disease will prevent the Crown Princess from also attending several other events in the future.
The Norwegian Royal Family has played a central role in the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize since Norway became independent in 1905. Throughout history, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to a number of controversial people. There is only one single time that the Norwegian Royal Family has chosen to boycott the peace prize ceremony. This happened in 1935 when the Nobel Peace Prize was given to the German native, Carl von Ossietzky. King Haakon VII justified the boycott when Alfred Nobel’s family said they were opposed to the awarding of the prize to von Ossietzky.
