"And dad was against it!": The love story of the Norwegian king Harald V and Queen Sonya

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

This royal couple has gone through incredible trials to become a family. Their morganatic marriage was not only an example of love and devotion, but also an example of tremendous spiritual harmony, thanks to which for half a century Sonya and Harald have been celebrating the birth of their union as one date - three months after his birthday and four months earlier.

Triumph

Last year, there was not a single inhabitant of Norway who did not celebrate the 25th anniversary of the accession to the throne of King Harald V of Norway and Queen Sonya. And in May of this year, the country celebrated the 80th anniversary of this brightest married couple of all monarchs. The current Norwegian king has a very extraordinary biography. The very fact of his birth turned out to be a landmark event. Fate decreed that Harald became the first crown prince in the last six hundred years, born not in a foreign land, but in the country of which he was to become king.

For several centuries Norway was connected by ties either with Sweden or with Denmark, so the prince by blood had to wait for 54 long years for the moment of his coronation. And before this event, the life of the future king was full of adventures worthy of the pen of a writer. An amazing salvation during the Second World War, studying at Oxford University, personal participation in the Olympic Games and, contrary to generally accepted canons, a misalliance in marriage with a woman because of whom he wanted to give up the throne.

Return

On February 21, 1937, an heir was born into the family of Norwegian monarchs. By that time, Norway, exhausted from the unias, had become an independent country and was not going to take part in the war imposed by Nazi Germany. However, in April 1940, Nazi troops invaded the country, and the little prince, along with his mother and sisters, was evacuated to the United States, where the family stayed until the end of World War II.

All this time, Harald's grandfather and father were in England, heading the exiled Norwegian government, that year, and this was in 1945, Sonya Haraldsen, along with other scouts, solemnly greeted the return of the royal family to the capital of Norway. She looked at the young prince, riding along the street of Oslo, and did not know then that this was her first meeting with her betrothed - a meeting of the future king and queen.

Obstacles in spite of

They were young, ambitious and beautiful when love came. Sonia Haraldsen and Harald were 22 when they met at a party in 1959. The girl dreamed of a prince, although she was an ordinary saleswoman in a small clothing store owned by her father. Sonya had great taste, sewed beautifully and dreamed of becoming a fashion designer. At the age of 17, the girl went to Switzerland to comprehend this profession, and then received a second education in England, becoming a certified economist.

She learned several foreign languages. In addition, Sonya was an avid skier, and in the summer she loved to raft down the rivers on boats. How could Harald not surrender to such a clever, beautiful and sportswoman? Since then, the heart of the young man has been given to the beautiful Sonya. Then the young did not know what wall of obstacles from their parents they would have to face - at that time unequal marriages were not welcomed in Norway, especially in the royal family.

The lovers met in secret for almost nine years and until the last moment did not believe that their wedding would take place. Harald's father, King Ulaf the Fifth, was categorically against this alliance, until the stubborn young man announced that he was giving up the right to inherit the throne. After reflecting for some time, the wise monarch decided that this misalliance would even contribute to the image of the family, especially since the feelings of the young have been tested by time, and the chosen one has so many merits. Subsequently, Ulaf never regretted his decision.

To the general joy of ordinary citizens of the state, in August 1968, Sonia Haraldsen became the crown princess of Norway. And in mid-January 1991, Harald was crowned to the throne, and Sonya became the first Queen of Norway by matrimonial law. There has never been such a precedent in the history of the state, but this extraordinary woman proved that one does not become a queen on the basis of hereditary characteristics, but that one is born a queen. The subjects could not have wished for a better wife for their crowned monarch.

Ironically, Crown Prince Haakon, son of Sonya and Harald, also fell in love with a commoner, and even a single mother who dabbled in marijuana in her youth. But remembering their own experience of fighting the system, the parents of the current crown prince did not resist his choice and accepted his chosen one with an open soul into the family. Today Haakon and Mette-Marit are happy parents of three children and loving spouses.

Hand in hand

Without a doubt, Harald and Sonya deserve the undeniable title of the most athletic royal couple. Despite their age, they even practice extreme sports. Moreover, in 2005, the king underwent coronary artery bypass surgery. To take care of himself, Harald quit smoking, but he nevertheless went to Sweden for the European Sailing Championship. And his team won there.

Sonia in the same year, already at the age of 68, visited Antarctica to attend the grand opening of the Norwegian scientific station. In addition, the spouses' hobby is eco-tourism. The concept of "age" does not exist for them. And now the royal couple rules, surrounded by loving children and grandchildren. They sacredly honor the day when they made an oath of allegiance to each other fifty years ago.

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