Her Majesty Queen Sonja of Norway was welcomed to a closed reception at the Royal Palace in Oslo on Monday afternoon. The reception marked the end of this summer’s exhibition.
Among the guests were representatives of the partners behind the exhibition, primarily the Norwegian Opera & Ballet, but also the National Museum, which has made a number of Queen Maud’s outfits available for the exhibition. Initially, guests were given a tour of the exhibition, and the Queen thanked everyone for the good cooperation in her speech. The guests could also enjoy cultural performances and a bit of royal food during the reception.
Her Majesty said: “There has been tremendous interest in this year’s exhibition, and I can now reveal that we have a new record! In nine summer weeks, around 50,000 people will have visited the Royal Palace. This is a fantastic number, and we share both the joy, the honour and the gratitude with our good partners.”
This year, the Royal Palace is marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of Queen Maud at Marlborough House in London. The exhibition “Queen’s Meetings” crosses the narratives of the Royal House’s first ladies in the past, present, and future – from Queen Maud to Princess Ingrid Alexandra. The exhibition “Queen’s meetings” is being run in collaboration with the Norwegian Opera & Ballet.
Queen Sonja also said: “The exciting thing is that not only the past is communicated her, but our highly contemporary history. It has been nice to be able to exhibit the dress I wore on our 80th-anniversary celebration in the Opera, created in close collaboration with the talented professionals, some of the country’s best in textiles.”
Through exclusive outfits and personal items the Royal Palace has staged different situations where Queen Maud and Her Majesty Queen Sonja meet – at the Palace Balcony, to Afternoon Tea in the Mirror Room, to a magnificent castle ball in the Great Festival Hall and finally to a historically-discovered dinner table in Large Dining Room, where the two queens can take their places alongside Crown Princess Märtha, Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Princess Ingrid Alexandra.
Every summer the Norwegian Royal Family opens the Royal Palace for visitors who can visit the main rooms of the palace. Every year there is also a new exhibition that characterises the rooms that are open. This year’s public season opened Saturday, 22 June. The last chance to see the display will be 22 August.
