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.
Tuesday, 4 July 2017
Monday, 3 July 2017
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.