[Norway] Family gathers for Christmas service

Marius (far left) is getting cuter and cuter by the minute. WOW!

Those kids are just SO HAPPY to be there!

[Norway] Television channel boosts Mette-Marit's image through two-part documentary

As Crown Princess Mette-Marit formally opened a church in her name in Miami over the weekend, Norwegians back home were being shown a glowing documentary on her life, produced by Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK). It seemed like NRK was intent on boosting the crown princess’ image, although some might argue that’s no longer necessary.

Controversy erupted when Mette-Marit Tjessem-Høiby emerged as the new girlfriend of Crown Prince Haakon in the late 1990s. She reportedly had a wild past, little formal education and a son from a brief relationship – not exactly the stuff future queens are made of.

Most of the noise has since died down, though, and Mette-Marit has worked hard to find her place in the royal family. It wasn’t immediately clear what prompted the state broadcaster to make the lengthy documentary, which dredged up her past again but mostly offered a string of overwhelmingly positive testimonials about the woman who went from rebellious teenage commoner and single mother to wife of the crown prince. The documentary didn’t coincide with the crown princess’ birthday, and it came three months after the couple celebrated their 10th anniversary in August, so there was no obvious news peg. But NRK had promoted it heavily and aired it in prime time on Sunday night, just before the highly popular British series Downton Abbey. A large television seemed virtually assured.

The documentary, first of two parts, touched on Mette-Marit’s admittedly wild past without going into any detail on what she really did as a young woman that caused such a fuss when her relationship to Crown Prince Haakon became known. There were archive clips from her tearful admission and apology to the Norwegian people, aired just days before the wedding in 2001, when she publicly stated that she’d “tested the limits” of what most consider acceptable behaviour. She distanced herself from narcotics, without directly admitting drug use, and said she understood that many Norwegians were having a hard time accepting her as their new crown princess.

Otherwise, there were no specific references in the documentary to the house-party life she was reported to be part of at the time, or her single motherhood. King Harald, in one of the many testimonials to Mette-Marit on the NRK program, addressed the issue mostly by describing “how brave” it was of her to confide in him and Queen Sonja about her past, but the monarch also refrained from detailing what she’d actually said. When she’d finished talking to them, according to the king, “I asked her, ‘Is that all, is there anything more you want to tell us?’ and she said, ‘no, that was all,’ so I responded, ‘OK, fine, we’ll go for this.’” That opened the door for the marriage to go forward.

The monarch said he wasn’t entirely at ease, though, until he explained the situation to Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who was leading his first government at the time. “‘I’ll get the government to along with this,’” King Harald quoted Stoltenberg as saying.

The crown prince, meanwhile, had made it clear they’d marry regardless, even if it meant he’d need to abdicate. “We all knew what the situation was,” Haakon’ only sibling, Princess Martha Louise, told NRK.

to read more, click here

Oh, this couple just makes me... *swoon* #royallove

[Norway] Crown Prince Haakon's family face snow and cold in fun little week

Many of us seek for the beach, sun and sea when summer comes. But Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit were, the other week, at Galdhøpiggen with the family - in the snow and cold.

As shown in the photos, it was not sunny and warm all over Norway - even though it is in the middle of summer. Although these were no real vacations, you can not really say that Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit's visit to Galdhøpiggen was like any other week.

Up the hill

The couple, together with their children, had been looking up winter clothes for their trip together. They all had the goal to climb Galdhøpiggen situated 2469 meters above sea level.

Integration Project
The whole travel was in fact an integration project - to the peak - where the Crown Prince and hundreds of others would get to the top of the mountain together. To demonstrate what can be done by joining forces.

In the snow
We see here the pictures both Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Marius Borg Høiby, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus (that travelled on the Crown Prince's back, as you can see on the first picture) together on the mountain slope.

Everybody looked like they were having a lot of fun!

source

[Norway] [VIDEO] This is how the Royal Family celebrated their national day this week!

Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit and their children, Marius Borg Høiby, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus were present at the parade at the door of their home in Oslo.

May 17 is a very special day in the Norwegian Calendar. The whole country celebrates its Constitution by this national day. For the occasion, thousands of citizens hit the streets to watch the parade where students from many schools all over the Scandinavian country make an appearance in costumes with flags of the nation in their hands.

As usual and according to tradition, the Norwegian royal family presided over the celebrations . First, the Prince Haakon and his family greeted the people at the door of their residence, the palace of Skaugum (just outside Oslo), as a procession of students from more than 30 schools from the area were parading.

Dressed in the 'bunad' (traditional Norwegian costume) and stirring vigorously the flag, to the delight of those present, Crown Princess Mette-Marit had to pick up her son Prince Sverre, who was a little tired. A little later, the young Marius - very cute, by the way -  Mette-Marit's first son joined his family after his own school paraded in front of the palace.

The family dog, Milly Kakao, joined the celebration by encouraging even small Sverre, who decided he wanted to be next to your pet and not his mother's arms.

Those kids were really having fun!

Princess Ingrid Alexandra didn't stop holding her dad's hand for a second.

If he was my dad, I wouldn't either.

Marius joined his family after his school paraded.

And then the family dog, Milly Kakao, also joined the family.

After the parade, Haakon and Mette Marit of Norway, as well as their children, took off their costumes and joined the king Harald and Sonja at the Royal Palace balcony to greet the immense crowds that were waiting for them.

source of the article

source of the photos 1 and 2

[Norway] [VIDEO] Crown Princess Mette-Marit attending Harvard University

Crown Princess Mette-Marit completed a course in International Management and Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard University. The course - which ran over two weeks - occurred under the spectrum of Young Global Leaders (YGL) as Crown Princess joined in 2010. YGL is a network that originates from the World Economic Forum. In this video, the Crown Princess talks about the course and shares some of his reflections. It is very refreshing to see her as a student, having an almost normal and anonymous life.

UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway calls to action during the Mali Youth Summit on HIV

UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador HRH Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway travelled to Bamako, Mali to participate in the Youth Summit on HIV, an event convened under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Mali, Amadou Toumani Touré, and co-hosted by UNAIDS.

HRH Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway addressed an audience of more than 150 young leaders at the youth summit. Speaking at a session on transformative social movements, the Crown Princess highlighted the opportunities offered by the social media tools to empower young people in new areas of advocacy.

“Young people must be mobilized to respond to deeply entrenched stigma and discrimination and a growing conservative backlash which threatens their access to sexual and reproductive health services, sexuality education, sexual expression, harm reduction and safety as human rights defenders,” said HRH Crown Princess Mette-Marit.

She encouraged young people to learn from different social movements to engage others in the AIDS response. The Crown Princess emphasized that it is the young who are sitting with the solutions and must have the opportunity to be heard.

“My message to you is: when you experience, lack of core funding, lack of data on young people, lack of personal rights or lack of access to treatment, use your courage, use your ideas and start your own social movements,” said the Crown Princess. “Use your networks to create a momentum so that our leaders can't afford not to listen. Make them so powerful that world leaders cannot neglect them.”

source

Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon and Princess Mette-Marit in Ghana

Ghana is to receive a grant of $6.5 million from the Norwegian government. The money will be used for the protection of the country’s eco-system as well as address other challenges posed by oil exploration.

This was disclosed during the visit of the Crown Prince of Norway to Accra. Prince Haakon is on a three-day visit with the Crown Princess.

Environment Minister Sherry Aryeetey says Ghana will also tap the rich experience of Norway to maximize the benefits of oil exploration.

She said while Ghana greatly appreciated the gesture, “It is our hope that Norway will continue to support us in strengthening the capacity of relevant institutions so that we can also leverage the resources of the oil and gas sector to precipitate accelerated sustainable development of this industry.”

She regretted that although African countries were endowed with abundant natural resources, many of them remained poor, stressing that “We in Ghana are focused on breaking the ironic trend and we are grateful to Norway for the support.”

Norwegian Minister for Environment, Erik Solheim, called for transparency in the distribution of the country’s oil revenue to avoid associated conflicts. He said the country’s political leaders must remember that oil the resource belongs to the people and must therefore serve their supreme interest.

The couple enjoying the local food and dressing style.

Very animated moment at a women police school.

And they even had time for affection. Ohhh...

article source

photos source

[Norway] Crown couple promise oil investments in Ghana

Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has pledged the government’s commitment to emulate the best examples of oil-producing nations to appropriately manage its oil and gas find to improve the lives of Ghanaians.

He said although Ghana was a developing nation, the lessons learnt from oil-producing countries such as Venezuela, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Libya, among others, would guide it to strive to make the resource a blessing and not a curse.

The Vice-President made the promise when the Crown Prince and Princess of Norway and the Norwegian Minister of Environment and Development called on him at the Flagstaff House ahead of the launch of the Ghana-Norway Agreement on Oil for Development.

In October 2007, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) applied for assistance from Norway under its Oil for Development (OfD) programme.

The application was followed up with a call from the former Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr Kofi Annan, for Norway to grant Ghana’s request.

Based on the subsequent dialogue and thorough assessment of the scope for co-operation, a decision was made to make Ghana a core co-operation country in the OfD programme.

In February 2008, during the National Forum on Oil and Gas Development in Accra, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Ghana’s Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway regarding long-term co-operation within the petroleum sector under the OfD.

In December 2010, the governments of Norway and Ghana signed an agreement following a request by Ghana for support to strengthen the resource management of oil and gas in Ghana.

source

[Norway] Crown couple off to Ghana

News bureau NTB reports that the royal couple will have a full program during their two-day visit, which runs from April 12-14, just before Norway’s annual Easter holidays set in. Their visit will coincide with a large oil industry conference called Ghana Summit, to be held in the capital of Accra.

Norway and Ghana have bilateral cooperation in several areas, not least in the development of the country’s oil and gas industry. Norway is a partner in the development and management of the country petroleum resources, reported NTB, and Norwegian oil companies have shown “considerable interest” in the country.

In addition to meetings with authorities in Ghana, the couple will meet with UN officials, visit a Norwegian studies center at Cape Coast and visit the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center.

King Harald, meanwhile, was to officially greet Ghana’s new ambassador to Norway, Hajia Fati Habib-Jawula, in a meeting at the Royal Palace in Oslo on Thursday.

source

New photos of Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway and her family

Little future queen of Norway, Princess Ingrid just celebrated her 7th birthday (already?) and her parents, CP Haakon and Mette-Marit released a couple of photos from their Christmas trip to Turkey, Jordan and India. Some of these photos were taken by the Crown Princes themselves.