My latest article: The last King of Romania

Because of Christmas, the January issue of Majesty (Vol. 39, No. 1) is out in Britain already today. In it, I write about the life of King Mihai I of Romania, who died two weeks ago at the age of 96. Mihai, who was the last surviving adult head of state from World War II, reigned from 1927 to 1930, when he was deposed by his father, but returned to the throne ten years later. In 1944, he played a key role in toppling the dictator Antonescu and shifting Romania from the Axis to the Allied side, but in 1947 he was forced to abdicate while being held at gunpoint by the Communists. After the fall of the Iron Curtain he enjoyed tremendous respect and popularity in his former kingdom and was given a state funeral with full military honours last Saturday.

My latest article: Erling Wryneck's holy wars

Erling Wryneck (c. 1115-1179) was one of the most feared, gifted and ruthless men to rule Norway. In the early 1150s he travelled in the footpaths of his father-in-law, King Sigurd the Crusader, on a crusade to Jerusalem, and after he gained power in 1161 as regent for his son, King Magnus Erlingsson, he transferred the crusading ideas to the war for the Norwegian throne. It thus became a holy war in which pretenders had to conquer or die and with biblical zeal Erling exterminated all those of his son's real and potential rivals he could lay his hands on, including his own stepson.
In the December issue of Aftenposten Historie, Norway's largest history magazine, which is on sale from today, I write about Erling Wryneck and his holy wars, and he is also one of the main protagonists of my new book, Hellig krig om Norges krone - Tronstrid, borgerkrig og korstog fra Sigurd Jorsalfare til kong Sverre ("Holy War for the Crown of Norway: Wars of Succession, Civil Wars and Crusades from Sigurd the Crusader to King Sverre").

My latest article: The Crusader's daughter

One of the most interesting women in medieval Norwegian history was Kristin Sigurdsdatter (c. 1125-178). After he father, King Sigurd the Crusader, had gone mad and died in 1130 and her brother, King Magnus the Blind, had been blinded, castrated and mutilated by their uncle Harald Gilchrist and later killed she was the only one left of the crusader's family, but eventually her son, Magnus Erlingsson, won the crown back from Harald Gilchrist's line. On several occasions Kristin herself took an active part in the wars for the throne, for instance when she spied on King Håkon the Broadshouldered and thereby revealed his schemes and paved her own son's way to the throne, or when she went to Denmark to negotiate a peace treaty with her cousin, King Valdemar the Great.
Kristin also travelled to Constantinople and possibly to Jerusalem, and she lived to see that her husband, Erling Wryneck, executed her illegitimate son so that he would not challenge his half-brother for the throne. This interesting woman's life is the topic of an article I have written for the yearbook of Etne Historical Society (the village where she lived as a married woman), which may be ordered from www.etnesogelag.no (external link). She also features in my new book, Hellig krig om Norges krone - Tronstrid, borgerkrig og korstog fra Sigurd Jorsalfare til kong Sverre ("Holy War for the Crown of Norway: Wars of Succession, Civil Wars and Crusades from Sigurd the Crusader to King Sverre").

My latest article: Margaretha the matriarch

In the December issue of the British monthly magazine Majesty (Vol. 38, No. 12) I write about Princess Margaretha of Denmark (1899-1977), who may have been less famous than her sisters, Crown Princess Märtha of Norway and Queen Astrid of the Belgians, but outlived them both by far to become (in the words of her niece, Princess Astrid of Norway) the female head of the family, the person who held the family together, one of King Olav's few confidantes and a valued adviser to younger relatives. The magazine is already out in Britain and from today also in Norway.

At the road's end: Ex-King Mihai I of Romania (1921-2017)

The last King of Romania, Mihai I, died in his home in Aubonne, Switzerland at noon Central European Time today, aged 96.
Born on 25 October 1921, ex-King Mihai was the longest living king in history and the last surviving adult head of state from the Second World War.
Mihai I became King as far back as in 1927, following the death of his grandfather, Ferdinand I. He was deposed by his father, Carol II, in 1930, but again became King after Carol's abdication in 1940. Romania at first sided with the Axis powers, but King Mihai played a key role in toppling the Fascist dictator Antonescu and switching to the Allied side in 1944. In December 1947, he was forced to abdicate while being held at gunpoint by the Communists.
My obituary of the former King will appear in the next issue of Majesty.

I now have an official Facebook page

If anyone might be interested, I now have an official author's page on Facebook which people may like without us being Facebook friends: https://www.facebook.com/trondnorenisaksenhistoriker/ (external link). Here you will be able to get updates on my work and a good deal of history and royalty, some art history and perhaps some book recommendations - sometimes in English, sometimes in Norwegian.

My latest article: Norway's holy war

In today's edition of Aftenposten, Norway's largest newspaper, I have an essay on how the crusading ideas influenced the 12th century war for the Norwegian throne, which they turned into a holy war in which pretenders had to win or die. It is, as the newspaper's chosen headline says, the real-life equivalent to Game of Thrones. The article is based on my new book, Hellig krig for Norges krone - Tronstrid, borgerkrig og korstog fra Sigurd Jorsalfare til kong Sverre, and may be read here (external link).

My latest articles: Danish crown jewels and Prince Henrik's travails

My article series about crown jewels continues in the November issue of Majesty (Vol. 38, No. 11), which is now on sale in Norway as well as in Britain. The third and final installment of the series deals with the Danish crown jewels, and in the same issue I also look at this summer's great royal "scandal", when Prince Henrik of Denmark, shortly before he was diagnosed with senile dementia, announced his refusal to be buried with his wife of fifty years, Queen Margrethe II, in Roskilde Cathedral unless she makes him King Consort. I also look at the historical background for his demand for the title of King Consort, which is actually not so far-fetched as many seem to believe, nor is it the idea of a demented mind.

My new book is out today: Holy War for the Crown of Norway

My fourth book, Hellig krig om Norges krone – Tronstrid, borgerkrig og korstog fra Sigurd Jorsalfare til kong Sverre (i.e. “Holy War for the Crown of Norway: Wars of Succession, Civil Wars and Crusades from Sigurd the Crusader to King Sverre”), has been published today by Forlaget Historie & Kultur.
The book deals with the 12th century wars for the Norwegian throne (the Norwegian answer to the War of the Roses – or Games of Thrones, except that this story is true) and how the influence from crusading ideas turned them into a holy war. It starts with the crusade of King Sigurd the Crusader in 1108-1111 and ends with the Battle of Fimreite in 1184. By looking at how the wars for the Norwegian throne became intertwined with the Danish civil wars and the conflict between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope the book also attempts to place them in a Scandinavian and European context rather than the narrow Norwegian context they are usually seen in.
The main protagonists are the much-loved King Magnus Erlingsson, who while still a child became the first Norwegian King to be crowned; his talented father Erling Wryneck, who with biblical fervour exterminated his son’s rivals; his grandfather Sigurd the Crusader, who was the first European King to go on a crusade to Jerusalem; and the friendly but ambitious King Inge the Hunchback.
On the way from Jerusalem to Fimreite we also meet Kristin Sigurdsdatter, one of the most significant women of medieval Norway; “the devil’s priest” King Sverre and his Birchlegs; the castrated monk Magnus the Blind; the immigrant King Harald Gilchrist; the power broker Queen Ingerid Ragnvaldsdatter and her many men; the last Viking King Øystein Haraldssen; the rapist King Sigurd the Mouth; the mighty Margareta Fredkolla, who became Queen twice; Valdemar the Great, who made Denmark a great power; the reforming Popes Hadrian IV and Alexander III and their bellicose opponent, Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa; the church builder Archbishop Øystein Erlendsson; the rejected child bride Queen Kristin Knudsdatter; and St Olav, the eternal King of Norway.

My latest article: The end of Swedish coronations

My new book is just around the corner, but meanwhile I have turned some surplus material from my previous book, Norges krone - Kroninger, signinger og maktkamper fra sagatid til nåtid, into an article for the Swedish English-language royal history magazine Royalty Digest Quarterly (no 3 - 2017), which is now out. The article looks at how and why the Swedish kings stopped having coronations at the death of Oscar II in 1907, by which time coronations had come under increasing criticism for several decades (in sharp contrast to what was the case in neighbouring Norway).

My latest articles: Norwegian crown jewels and Mohammed bin Salman

Court intrigues are always fun, and in the October issue of Majesty (Vol. 38, No. 10) I write about the latest developments in the ongoing struggle for the Saudi succession and the new Crown Prince, 32-year-old Mohammed bin Salman, who ousted his cousin Mohammed bin Nayef in what amounted to a palace coup this summer and now seems set to rule the world's most powerful monarchy for perhaps fifty years or more.
In the same issue my series on crown jewels continues with an article on the Norwegian ones, which, although mostly made in Sweden, have been symbols of Norway's independence for nearly two centuries.
The magazine is already on sale in Britain and will hit the shops in Norway on Thursday of this week.

My latest article: Innocent IV, the Pope who legitimised the House of Sverre

In today’s issue of the newspaper Klassekampen I write about Pope Innocent IV and his role in Norwegian history, inspired by a recent archaeological find. In connection with railway construction work in Oslo’s old town, archaeologists discovered something as rare as a medieval Papal seal. The seal was found folded, but on Wednesday an attempt was made to open it. This was abandoned because of the risk of breaking it, but the examination revealed that it was Pope Innocent IV who had sent the letter to which the seal was once affixed.
This was an interesting find because this Pope, who reigned from 1243 to 1254, played a small but interesting part in Norwegian history as the Pope who eventually gave permission for Håkon Håkonsson, the illegitimate grandson of the excommunicated usurper King Sverre, to be crowned. Thereby he brought the conflict between the church and the so-called Birchlegs to its conclusion and legitimised the House of Sverre as Norway’s rightful royal house, apparently in the hope that Håkon would go on a crusade and help recover Jerusalem, which had been lost to the Muslims in 1244.

My fourth book: Holy War for the Crown of Norway

Today I am pleased to announce the upcoming publication of my fourth book, Hellig krig om Norges krone – Tronstrid, borgerkrig og korstog fra Sigurd Jorsalfare til kong Sverre (i.e. “Holy War for the Crown of Norway: Wars of Succession, Civil Wars and Crusades from Sigurd the Crusader to King Sverre”), which will be published by Forlaget Historie & Kultur in early October.
The book deals with the 12th century wars for the Norwegian throne (the Norwegian answer to the War of the Roses – or Games of Thrones, except that this story is true) and how the influence from crusading ideas turned them into a holy war. It starts with the crusade of King Sigurd the Crusader in 1108-1111 and ends with the Battle of Fimreite in 1184. By looking at how the wars for the Norwegian throne became intertwined with the Danish civil wars and the conflict between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope the book also attempts to place them in a Scandinavian and European context rather than the narrow Norwegian context they are usually seen in.
The main protagonists are much-loved King Magnus Erlingsson, who while still a child became the first Norwegian King to be crowned; his talented father Erling Wryneck, who with biblical fervour exterminated his son’s rivals; his grandfather Sigurd the Crusader, who was the first European King to go on a crusade to Jerusalem; and the friendly but ambitious King Inge the Hunchback.
On the way from Jerusalem to Fimreite we also meet Kristin Sigurdsdatter, one of the most significant women of medieval Norway; “the devil’s priest” King Sverre and his Birchlegs; the castrated monk Magnus the Blind; the immigrant King Harald Gilchrist; the power broker Queen Ingerid Ragnvaldsdatter and her many men; the last Viking King Øystein Haraldssen; the rapist King Sigurd the Mouth; the mighty Margareta Fredkolla, who became Queen twice; Valdemar the Great, who made Denmark a great power; the reforming Popes Hadrian IV and Alexander III and their bellicose opponent, Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa; the church builder Archbishop Øystein Erlendsson; the rejected child bride Queen Kristin Knudsdatter; and St Olav, the eternal King of Norway.

HRH Prince Gabriel Carl Walther of Sweden, Duke of Dalecarlia

In a Council of State at the Royal Palace in Stockholm at 11.15 a.m., King Carl XVI Gustaf officially informed the cabinet of the birth of Prince Carl Philip's and Princess Sofia's second child, a son who saw the light of day at Danderyd Hospital on Thursday 31 August at 11.24 a.m. The newborn has received the name Gabriel Carl Walther and the titles Prince of Sweden and Duke of Dalecarlia (Dalarna in Swedish).
From what Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said, it seems the parents have chosen the name Gabriel, which has no royal traditions in Sweden, because they believe it fits their newborn baby. The name Carl, on the other hand, is perhaps the most frequently used male name in Swedish royal history, borne by, among many others, the child's father and paternal grandfather, as well as nine Swedish kings before him (although he is called Carl XVI Gustaf, the first six Carls never existed). Walther is clearly in memory of Queen Silvia's father, the German businessman Walther Sommerlath, and the name is also borne by one of her brothers.
Many had guessed that the newborn baby would receive the dukedom of Dalecarlia, as that is the province from which Princess Sofia hails, but it is actually the first time that such personal connections are taken into consideration for the choice of dukedom. The dukedom of Dalecarlia was last held by King Carl Gustaf's youngest uncle, Prince Carl Johan, who received it at the time of his birth in 1916, but forfeited it when he married a commoner in 1946. Before that it was held by King Oscar I's youngest son, Prince August (1831-1873), whose widow Teresia, the Dowager Duchess of Dalecarlia, died only two years before the dukedom was created anew for Prince Carl Johan.
Prince Gabriel is King Carl Gustaf's and Queen Silvia's sixth grandchild and also sixth in line to the Swedish throne, following Crown Princess Victoria, Princess Estelle, Prince Oscar, Prince Carl Philip and Prince Alexander. However, the family will continue to grow in the near future, as it was announced only four days before Prince Gabriel's birth that Princess Madeleine and Chris O'Neill are expecting their third child in March.

My lastest article: Swedish crown jewels and the mother-in-law of Europe

In the September issue of Majesty I embark on a new series on crown jewels, starting with the exquisite Swedish ones, which are the oldest of an extant monarchy. The series will continue next month with the Norwegian crown jewels.
In the same issue I also write about Queen Louise of Denmark, the consort of King Christian IX, an influential lady who arranged dynastic marriages in the mistaken belief that they would prevent wars. Known as "the mother-in-law of Europe", she was also the mother-in-law from hell, at least for her daughter-in-law Louise.
The magazine is already in sale in Britain and will go on sale in Norway on the coming Thursday, which happens to be the bicentenary of Queen Louise's birth.

My latest article: The troubled history of kings consort

Earlier this month, Prince Henrik of Denmark caused quite an uproar when he announced that he no longer wants to be buried together with his wife of fifty years, Queen Margrethe II. In a series of interviews he also launched a personal attack on his wife, who he claimed makes a fool of him, and stated that he would be willing to reconsider the decision about his burial place if she would agree to make him King Consort.
It was explained that the Prince’s decision was made because of his dissatisfaction with his title and function, something a spokeswoman said had become more and more important for him in recent years. It is far from the first time Prince Henrik raises the issue of his title and the fact that he believes that as the wife of a king is queen, a queen’s husband ought to be king (i.e. king consort and not, as some ill-informed people have claimed, take over as monarch).
Many seem to think that this is an idea Prince Henrik has grasped out of thin air, but in a long article in today’s issue of the broadsheet Politiken (external link) I recount the history of kings consort, which began in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the twelfth century and soon spread to Naples, Spain, Navarre, Portugal, Poland, England, Scotland and Cyprus. In fact, the husbands of queens regnant were actually usually (although not always) styled kings and many of them took part in the governance of the realm. The so far last king consort in Europe died as recently as 1902, and it is only during the last century and a half that it has become more common for male consorts not to be called kings. Thus, although Prince Henrik may have history and principles on his side, it seems highly unlikely that he will ever achieve his dream of becoming King Consort of Denmark.

My latest article: A thousand years of queens

Today is the Queen's eightieth birthday and to mark the occasion I have written an essay on the history of Norwegian queens (external link) which appears in Aftenposten, the country's largest newspaper, today.
When Sonja became Queen in 1991, the position had been vacant for 52 years following the death of Queen Maud and therefore she had to carve out the role anew. However, Norwegian history is full of interesting and influential queens, such as Ælfgifu, Astrid Olavsdatter, Margareta Fredkolla, Ingerid Ragnvaldsdatter, Ingeborg Eriksdatter, Margareta Valdemarsdatter, Philippa of England, Blanca of Namur, Dorothea of Brandenburg, Josephine of Leuchtenberg and Sophie of Nassau.

My latest article: The Queen at 80

The Queen will be eighty years old tomorrow (or so her birth certificate claims), which I mark with an article in the July issue of Majesty (Vol. 38, No. 7) that looks at her struggle to carve out a role that had been vacant for 52 years. The article also contains a photo report from the King and Queen's official birthday celebrations in May. The magazine is already on sale in Britain and will be available in Norway on Thursday.

My latest article: Oscarshall Palace

My occasional series on great palaces continues in the June issue of Majesty (Vol. 38, No. 6) with an article on Oscarshall, the neo-Gothic summer palace in Oslo that was built by King Oscar I in 1847-1852. After his early death Oscarshall was often neglected, but in the present reign it has woken from its slumber. The article also contains a small revelation, i.e. a newfound source indicating that Crown Prince Olav at first turned down the offer of Skaugum as he would rather live at Oscarshall. The magazine is already on sale in Britain and will go on sale in Norway on Thursday.

My latest article: The origins of the Norwegian monarchy

I was abroad when the official celebrations of the King and Queen's 80th birthdays took place on 9-10 May, but to mark the occasion Aftenposten asked me to write an essay on the origins of the ancient Norwegian monarchy. The article appeared in the newspaper on Saturday 6 May and may also be read online (external link) if anyone might be interested.

My latest article: The three Dutch male consorts

For more than a century gender roles were reversed within the Dutch monarchy as three condecutive queens reigned and their husbands filled the traditionally female role of consort to the monarch. In an article in the May issue of Majesty (Vol. 38, No. 5), I look at the very dissimilar ways in which Princes Hendrik, Bernhard and Claus shaped the role as male consorts. The magazine went on sale in Britain on 20 April and will probably be on sale in Norway from Thursday of this week.

Celebrations for King and Queen's 80th birthdays

The royal court has announced the programme for the official celebrations of the King and Queen's eightieth birthdays, which will take place on 9 and 10 May.
On 9 May there will be some sort of entertainment in the Palace Square at 5.30 p.m. The King and Queen and their European guests will appear on the balcony at 6.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. there will be a gala banquet at the Royal Palace (which usually means white tie).
The next day the King and Queen will give a luncheon onboard the Royal Yacht "Norge" at 11 a.m., while the cabinet will host a dinner for 300 guests at the Opera House at 7 p.m. Government dinners usually take place at Akershus Castle, but this time it has been decided to hold it at the Opera as this will make it possible to seat all 300 guests in the same room, whereas they would have to be divided between several rooms at the old castle. While white tie in the twentieth century, government dinners for the royal family have been black tie affairs since the turn of the century.
Aftenposten reports that between 30 and 40 foreign royals are expected to attend, but contrary to what the newspaper claims this is neither a record nor the largest royal gathering in Norway since the Crown Prince and Crown Princess's wedding in 2001, as fifty foreign royals attended the celebrations of the King's seventieth birthday in 2007.
The Queen of Denmark will attend with her two sons and daughters-in-law, who will stay onboard the Royal Yacht "Dannebrog", while the King and Queen of Sweden will be accompanied by Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Daniel, Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia. Two of King Carl Gustaf's sister, Princesses Désirée and Christina, usually attend family events in Norway, but are unlikely to attend this time as Princess Christina is undergoing treatment for leukemia while the funeral of Princess Désirée's husband, Baron Niclas Silfverschiöld, takes place the day after the Norwegian celebrations come to an end. Other royal guests are yet to be announced.
The King was eighty on 21 February, but spent the day privately in South Africa together with his wife, children, daughter-in-law and grandchildren, while the Queen will be eighty on 4 July.

At the road's end: Baron Niclas Silfverschiöld (1934-2017), landowner and royal brother-in-law

The court of Stockholm has announced the death of King Carl Gustaf's brother-in-law, Baron Niclas Silfverschiöld, the husband of Princess Désirée, at the age of 82. Princess Désirée was at his side.
The son of Baron Carl-Otto Silfverschiöld and his wife Madeleine Bennich, Baron Nils-August Otto Carl Niclas Silfverschiöld was born on 31 May 1934. He married Princess Désirée, the third of the present King's four elder sisters, in the Cathedral of Stockholm on 5 June 1964 and had three children: Carl, Christina and Hélène.
The couple kept a very low profile and rarely figured in the press. In recent years Niclas Silfverschiöld suffered from cancer and therefore missed several royal family events. The couple lived at Koberg Palace near Sollebrunn in Västergötland, a 40-room-palace surrounded by 20 000 acres of land which had come into the noble Silfverschiöld family through female inheritance in 1776. King Carl Gustaf as well as the King of Norway have been regular visitors to Koberg during the shooting season.
In a statement released by the royal court, King Carl Gustaf says that he and the rest of the royal family have received the news of Niclas Silfverschiöld's passing with deep grief and their thoughts are with Princess Désirée and her family.
Niclas Silfverschiöld's death comes thirteen months after the death of Princess Birgitta's husband, Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern, while Princess Margaretha's estranged husband, John Ambler, passed away in 2008. The fourth sister, Princess Christina, who is battling leukemia, remains married to Tord Magnuson.

My latest article: Fabergé eggs and King Willem-Alexander

Easter will soon be upon us, and in the April issue of Majesty (Vol. 38, No. 4) I mark the occasion with an article on the imperial Fabergé eggs, the splendid works of art that were created as Easter eggs for the Russian empresses Maria Fyodorovna and Alexandra Fyodorovna, a tradition that, along with the Russian monarchy, came to an end 100 years ago this year.
As April will also see the fiftieth birthday of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands (on 27 April) I have also contributed a profile of him. The magazine went on sale in Britain two weeks ago and is on sale in Norway from today.

My latest article: Schleissheim Palace

I have forgotten to mention that the March issue of Majesty (Vol. 38, No. 3) is now on sale. In this issue I continue my occasional series on European palaces and this time I write about Schleissheim just outside Munich, which is the site of three palaces. The largest of them is a splendid baroque palace that Elector Maximilian II Emanuel of Bavaria built to glorify the House of Wittelsbach, who held great ambitions at the time, and to commemorate his own military prowess as a commander in the wars against the Ottomans. However, his involvement in the War of the Spanish Succession not only almost cost him Bavaria as he was driven into exile, but also meant that work on the palace stood still for many years. Nevertheless the result is arguably one of Germany's most splendid palaces, which would probably have been known as "the Bavarian Versailles" were it not for the fact that "mad" King Ludwig II built a replica of Versailles further south.

On this day: The King's eightieth birthday

Time flies, and today the King is suddenly eighty. While his seventieth birthday was the occasion of a major round of celebrations, he is spending his eigtieth (like his 75th) birthday on a private holiday abroad with the Queen, their children, daughter-in-law and five grandchildren.
The official celebration of his and the Queen's upcoming eightieth birthday will take place on 10 May, when the government will host a dinner in the foyer of Oslo's opera house (a departure from the usual practice of holding government dinners at Akershus Castle). The details are not yet known, but according to the Prime Minister foreign royals have been invited.

81 % support for Norwegian monarchy

On the occasion of the King's eightieth birthday tomorrow, state broadcaster NRK has commissioned an opinion poll (external link) from Norstat on whether Norway ought to be a monarchy or not. The poll finds that 81 % favour a monarchy, while 15 % want a republic and 4 % are undecided. Interestingly, support for the monarchy is highest among younger people. 85 % of those in their thirties support the monarchy, while 82 % of those under thirty do so.
This may be compared with the result of a similar poll undertaken by Norstat for NRK at the time of the bicentenary of Norway's independence in the spring of 2014, which found 82 % in favour of the monarchy (the decrease from 82 to 81 % is within the margin of error). If I recall, an opinion poll around the time of King Olav's death and King Harald's accession in 1991 found 87 % in favour of the monarchy, while the lowest support measured was 59 % in 2000, when there had been a number of controversies during the preceding years.

My latest articles: The King and Princess Astrid & the artistic Princess Louise

The February issue of Majesty (Vol. 38, No. 2) has been on sale since last week and as February will see the King's 80th birthday as well as Princess Astrid's 85th I have written an article on the two siblings and the close relationship they have enjoyed since childhood.
In the same issue I also write about Queen Victoria of Britain's daughter Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll who broke with conventions by becoming an accomplished sculptor and by marrying a commoner, something which caused quite a lot of problems for him.