King Harald
He puts an end to professional sailing
Queen Sonja, Crown Princess Mette-Marit and King Harald
© Dana Press
King Harald has made a difficult decision: he is ending his decade-long career as a professional sailor. Princess Mette-Marit and Prince Haakon find touching words.
King Harald of Norway, 85, has been an active competitive sailor for most of his life. Now that’s the end of it. The monarch confirmed to the TV station “NRK” that he would no longer take part in international competitions.
King Harald retires from sailing
King Harald can look back on an above-average sports career with countless competitions and major international championships, even taking part in the end of July 2022 over eight meters on Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Unfortunately, as captain on board the boat “Sira”, Harald and his crew only took tenth place.
“Everything has its time,” says the royal head in this year’s royal annual review documentary “Året med kongefamilien” (engl.: The year with the royal family”) by “NRK”. The documentary will be broadcast in Norway on December 26, 2022, the However, Sender revealed in advance that King Harald will give up his decades-long career as a sailor.
© Dana Press
One of the reasons could be his health problems. Only recently did Crown Prince Haakons, 49, father cause great concern when he had to be treated in the hospital for several days because of an infection. His limited mobility also hinders him. “It’s not so easy to get around the boat with crutches and the like, so it’s not that easy to move around anymore,” the monarch has to admit in the NRK documentary. However, he will continue to sail privately in Norway and is always willing to help out if anyone needs a partner to train with.
Princess Mette-Marit and Prince Haakon regret Haakon’s decision – but understand it
The crown prince couple also regrets Harald’s decision. Haakon hopes his father will follow through on his words and not give up sailing altogether: “It was an incredibly important part of his life,” he says. And it started early. In 1939, Harald was taken on board the “Sira” for the first time by his father, King Olav, †87. “That was the beginning of a lifelong, deep passion for sailing and for the sea,” says a statement from the International Association for 8-meter yachts.
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Princess Mette-Marit, 49, adds to her husband’s statement that Harald was “always incredibly happy” when he went sailing. Both his sailing friends, the whole environment and the sport in the great outdoors would have done the king a lot of good.
Sources used: Dana Press, nrk.no