Queen Sonja of Norway has spoken of the devastating miscarriage of her first child 46 years ago in an upcoming TV documentary celebrating the 25-year reign of King Harald V.
The miscarriage happened when then Crown Princess Sonja was 32-years-old. It was the night of 2 July 1970, following birthday celebrations on board the royal yacht for her father-in-law, King Olav V. They had only just shared the news with the public about a month before. She was about half-way through her pregnancy when she felt that something was wrong.
She felt cramps and was bleeding. She recalls the situation as, ‘absolutely horrific’. As she was still on board the royal yacht, she had to be lowered on a stretcher down the ship’s side to be rushed to Fredrikstad Hospital.
While there she was completely alone, as her husband was not allowed to be with her. Her father-in-law was the first to visit after the ordeal was over. She was also visited by her mother, Dagny Haraldsen, which comforted the future Queen of Norway.
“When my mother can be so calm, I must try to be too”, Queen Sonja said.
The child she lost that tragic night was a boy. Afterwards, she was faced with horrible speculation as to whether she and her husband would have another baby, a future heir to the throne of Norway. Fortunately, they were able to have more children. Princess Märtha Louise was born in September 1971, and Crown Prince Haakon was born in July 1973. Between her two children, she and her husband have five grandchildren and a step-grandchild.
The seven-part documentary King and Queen For 25 Years airs on the Norwegian station NRK until the end of February and is in celebration of King Harald V’s 25 years on the Norwegian throne.
whoever wrote this, really needs to read it again.. so much repetition.
I wish her all the best. I have a friend who also had a miscarriage and she was also devastated by it. It even took months for her to decide to try for a baby again and take her conceiveeasy pills.
This article repeats paragraphs – is no one proofreading?