At noon today the funeral service of Princess Ragnhild took place in the Palace Chapel in Oslo, the same chapel where she was held over the baptismal font by her grandmother Queen Maud 82 years ago.
It was a small, intimate ceremony; her coffin draped in the Norwegian flag and flanked by an honorary guard of His Majesty the King's Guard. Her son, Haakon Lorentzen, spoke in memory of his mother, while one of the readings was done by her granddaughter Sophia.
Following the funeral service the King and Queen hosted a reception at the Royal Palace, and the coffin was thereafter driven to the churchyard in Asker, where the Princess was laid to her final rest in a private ceremony attended only by those closest to her. It was in Asker Church, which is just around the corner from the crown princely residence Skaugum, that Princess Ragnhild married Erling S. Lorentzen in 1953, and although they spent their entire married life in Brazil they had long ago decided that this was where they wanted to be buried.
Present in the Palace Chapel were some 120 mourners. Among them were her widower as well as all her children and grandchildren, the King and Queen, Princess Astrid (who was with her sister in Rio for a week shortly before her death) and Johan Martin Ferner, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, Princess Märtha Louise, Crown Princess Victoria (representing her parents, who were close to Princess Ragnhild through the Brazilian connection), several children, children-in-law and grandchildren of Princess Astrid, her aunt by marriage Princess Kristine Bernadotte, her cousin Madeleine Kogevinas, the Speaker of Parliament, the Prime Minister, some other representatives of the authorities, courtiers and friends.
As Erling S. Lorentzen walked out of the Palace Chapel, carrying the flag which had draped his wife's coffin in one hand, Crown Princess Victoria took his other hand.
"who were close to Princess Ragnhild through the Brazilian connection"
ReplyDeleteUm, Princess Ragnhild's mother was a Bernadotte and a Princess of Sweden. That is the primary connection to the Swedish royal family.
Please respect the rule that comments should be signed. And no, that is not the primary connection to the (current) Swedish royal family. Princess Ragnhild's mother, of whom I have written a biography, belonged to a junior branch of the Swedish royal family (Princess Ragnhild's grandfather was a brother of King Carl Gustaf's great-grandfather) - the last member of that branch was Princess Ragnhild's uncle, Prince Carl Bernadotte, who died in 2003. (Distant) blood relationship does not always make people close to each other, as I think most people can testify. By the time Princess Ragnhild moved to Brazil in 1953, King Carl Gustaf was seven years old, Queen Silvia was unheard of and Crown Princess Victoria not thought of. Queen Silvia is partly Brazilian and she (and other members of the Swedish royal family) visit Brazil annually. During those visits they have often come together with the Lorentzen, and that is the main reason why Princess Ragnhild and her husband have come to be close to the current Swedish royal family.
ReplyDeleteThe primary reason the Swedish royal family would have contact with the Lorentzen familu in the first place is that Ragnhild's mother was a Bernadotte and a relative (if not the closest relative, not a very distant one either. I know all my second cousins and a number of more distant relatives for example). The fact that they lived in Brazil was a secondary reason. When their relative lived in Brazil, and they too had a connection to Brazil, it was only natural to meet with the Lorentzen family. If there had been no family connection in the first place, there would be no reason to have much contact. It doesn't matter if Ragnhild's mother was a member of a "junior" branch, and frankly, she wasn't, she was a fully dynastic member of the royal house, a granddaughter of the King, a princess of Sweden with the style of Royal Highness and a fairly close relative of all natural born members of the Swedish royal family of her lifetime and its immediate aftermath.
ReplyDeleteNo, that they lived in Brazil was not a secondary reason. They would indeed most likely not have gotten together if they were not related or at least both royalty, but it remains a fact that the reason why Princess Ragnhild and her family are close to the current King and Queen of Sweden is that they used to meet in Brazil, where Queen Silvia goes at least once a year, often accompanied by other members of the family - that is how they got to know each other well. (Princess Ragnhild was also related to all the other royal families, but was not close to most of them, for the reason that she rarely met them - had for instance the Queen of Denmark been a regular visitor to Brazil, she might perhaps have been equally close to the Lorentzens, which she is not).
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