On Saturday, Prince Sverre Magnus of Norway was confirmed in a downscaled ceremony in Asker Church. The grand celebration originally planned had to be scaled back due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, the day was celebrated by the Norwegian people and the Norwegian Royal Family.
Sverre Magnus has, this year, followed the confirmation teaching in Asker parish, and the confirmation service, therefore, took place in Asker Church. After the confirmation service, a smaller, private dinner was held at the Skaugum Estate.
The entire Norwegian Royal Family was present including King Harald, Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, Princess Märtha Louise and her children. The confirmation was a traditional Lutheran Christian ceremony and is seen as the sealing of the Christianity created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. The traditional worship ceremony consist of prayer, hymns and reading of the Bible.
Traditionally, the godparents of the confirmands attend the religious ceremony. However, Prince Sverre Magnus was not able to count on his foreign royal godparents. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands was not able to support her godson in person as she would have to endure a 10-day quarantine in Norway before being able to attend the confirmation. Neither Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece or Princess Rosario of Bulgaria attended the Prince’s confirmation.
Photos: Oskar Aanmoen
The Norwegian Royal Family decided to follow the recommendations in connection to COVID-19, issued by the Norwegian government, to celebrate the confirmation only with close family members.
The service was broadcast live by Norway’s two biggest TV-channels, NRK and TV2. Due to the coronavirus situation, there is a limit of 200 people in Asker church, and the Prince had only 16 guests present. They were King Harald V, Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, Marius Borg Høiby (son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit) and his girlfriend Juliane Snekkestad, Marit Tjessem (mother of Crown Princess Mette-Marit), as well as Princess Märtha Louise with her daughter, Leah Isadora Behn. Also present were Per Høiby, Kristin Høiby, Julia Høiby, Espen Høiby, Bjørn Stensland and Marianne Gjellestad.
It has been just a year since the last royal confirmation was held in Norway. The Prince’s older sister Princess Ingrid Alexandra was confirmed 31 August of last year. It has only been a week since the Prince’s first cousin, Leha Behn, daughter of Princess Märtha Louise, was confirmed in Jar Church.
Prince Sverre Magnus was carried to his baptism in 2006 by his grandmother, Queen Sonja, who was also one of his godparents. His other sponsors are Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece, Rosario Nadal, Espen Høiby, Bjørn Andersen-Steinsland and Marianne Gjellestad.
