After King Harald announced that he wanted to take a step back in the future, Prince Haakon will increasingly step in for him. The new news from the palace is all the more surprising: The monarch is planning not just one, but two trips – sometimes over several days.
It could be a time of upheaval in which the Norwegian royal family is currently finding itself: After King Harald, 87, had to undergo heart surgery, the palace announced that the monarch would step back a little. Prince Haakon, 50, will step in for his father if necessary. Experts are calling for constitutional changes so that Princess Ingrid Alexandra, 20, could also rule in the future. In the midst of the time of new ideas, Harald himself proves that he should not be written off as king for a long time: After the palace announced on April 24th that Harald and Queen Sonja, 86, would travel to Kongsberg on May 2nd, only to follow a few days later the next plans! The royal couple will travel to Agder and Rogaland at the end of May.
King Harald: Confusion? He is planning two surprising trips
The announced trips don’t quite fit the image of the 87-year-old, who only announced on April 22nd that he wanted to cut back a bit. The royal couple travels to Kongsberg to celebrate the city’s 400th anniversary. The date is set for May 2nd at 12 p.m. For King Harald, this trip will be the first after his fateful vacation in Malaysia. Kongsberg is located southwest of Olso and can be reached by car in around an hour. Harald and Sonja will probably travel back to the capital on the same day; an overnight stay in Kongsberg does not seem to be planned.
© Dana Press
It almost seems as if the Kongsberg trip is a test run for the long-struggling monarch. Because: On April 26th – just two days after the first announcement – the farm announced that Harald and Sonja would be traveling to Agder and Rogaland from May 26th to 30th. Agder is a region in southern Norway, Rogaland is in the southwestern part of the country. The journey to both regions takes three to five hours by car; it is conceivable that the monarch and his wife will cover these routes by plane.
Haakon explains Harald’s travels – and uses an admonishing tone
The palace does not publish a new update on Harald – but the planned trips suggest that the king is in stable health. Nevertheless, the dates are confusing, as it was not until recently that “a permanent reduction in the number and scope of the activities in which the king takes part” was announced. It is Prince Haakon himself who tries to explain these circumstances. On April 24th he attended the “Kongsbakken” secondary school in Tromsø. And, according to “Dana Press”, he made it clear to public broadcaster NRK on site: “We’re doing it together. We’ll solve it in the best possible way. We work as a team.”
Despite this optimistic statement, the heir to the throne adds somewhat more serious sentences. “The king is happy that he has his job back,” Haakon was quoted as saying by “Dana Press”. “The rest of us are very happy that this is possible. However, he has to take his age and form into account,” notes the 50-year-old. Although a spontaneous cancellation of the Kongsberg trip is theoretically possible, the palace seems to be optimistic that King Harald can manage the appointment. Otherwise these plans would hardly have been made. And people in Kongsberg are also excited about the royal presence: “We are happy that the King and Queen […] come to celebrate this day with us. This will be a happy day for the city and all our residents,” said Mayor Line Spiten.
Sources used: kongehuset.no, Dana Press