Oh yeah, this is a monarchy

King Harald V has died, and his son is now King Haakon VIII; Harald’s granddaughter, a college student, is now the Crown Princess Ingrid. Bells are ringing, flags are at half-staff, citizens gather to sing songs at the Palace. Annalise’s gymnastics teacher sends us a multi-paragraph missive clarifying that as a sportsman, the King would want 5-year-old gymnastics to continue this weekend. The barnehage pledges to remember him by focusing on “We,” and helping the children learn to be generous to each other. NTNU sets up a station for laying flowers. The screens on the bus begin displaying quotes from the King’s speeches.

All this of course followed huge-font hyperventilation in public news as he became ill.

As an American, it’s somewhat disorienting. Monarchies are weird to us. Arguably, that’s America’s whole thing, as “Governments are deriving their just power from the consent of the governed” stands in opposition to the traditional idea of kings. Similarly, Norway seems like the last country that would be a monarchy. Norway as a nation is young, strongly believes in equality and inclusiveness, and strictly follows rules regarding democracy and civil rights. Yet, the royal family remains overwhelmingly popular, even as everyone is deeply uneasy about some of their relationships (for example, the new Queen was a friend of Jeffrey Epstein, and her son by a previous relationship was just sentenced to prison for rape). One minor artifact of this popularity has appeared on this very blog, when we posted the Ingebrigtsen himbos brothers’ ode to autotune and Norwegian athletic supremacy, in which they repeatedly sing about the need to make the King proud.

The story of the monarchy of Norway traces the nation’s shifting identity from the home of marauding Vikings to a practical nation of engineers. Of course, monarchy requires genealogy, so we must track the history of Norway alongside some of the “begat”ing of medieval legend.

Traditionally, 872 was the year of the first Norwegian king. According to legend and (to somewhat a lesser extent) by history, King Harald Fairhair unified Norway into a single nation when he defeated two other chieftains at the Battle of Hafrsfjord, an achievement memorialized in Icelandic saga and the three-swords motif sometimes seen in Norway.

This Kingdom of Norway would alternately break into civil war and re-merge, including under the (to appear later!) House of Sverre in the 1100s. The founder of the House of Sverre was Sverre Sigurdsson, who claimed (dubiously, according to historians) to be descended from Harald Fairhair, thereby legitimizing his rule. Norway as an independent power ended when it merged with larger Scandanavia into the Sweden- and Denmark- dominated Kalmar Union in the 1300s.

Norway remained someone else’s subject for centuries – sometimes Sweden, sometimes Denmark. Finally, in 1905, Sweden agreed Norway would be an independent nation, and Sweden’s King Oscar renounced his claim to the Norwegian throne.

Norway’s secession was viewed with suspicion by other European powers; any political realignment was worrying, and besides, there were socialists involved. To reassure these other nations of their respect for tradition, Norway carefully and logically set out to select a king. Prince Carl of Denmark was chosen – his mother was related to the Swedish king, thereby salving some hurt feelings; his wife was British, thereby bringing in a nearby ally; and most importantly, he himself could trace his lineage back to Sverre Sigurdsson of the House of Sverre, thereby allowing for a legend of an unbroken lineage of Norwegian kings. To represent this continuity, Prince Carl became King Haakon VII (King Haakon VI having died in 1380).

By all measures Haakon VII was an excellent king. He refused to take the crown without formal public support (in a referendum, 79% voted for a monarch, making him the rare case of a king who was elected). He understood his role in the new nation, and limited himself to ceremonial roles. He was willing to appoint an elected prime minister who had run on abolishing the monarchy, thereby strengthening the democracy. He refused to surrender to Germany, would not appoint the Nazi figurehead Quisling as prime minister, and escaped and ran a government in exile during the war, providing a symbol of resistance.

Harald V, who just passed away, was his grandson. He was extremely popular, and seemed to understand how to be a King for a liberal nation; he was approachable, human, and inclusive. He is often referred to as “the nation’s grandfather.” He rarely was involved in politics, something which lent emphasis to his most famous moment: a speech he gave where he embraced inclusivity, saying in part “Norwegians are girls who love girls, boys who love boys, and girls and boys who love each other. Norwegians believe in God, in Allah, in everything, and in nothing.”

A poem by Trygve Skaug began making the rounds of Norwegian social media while the King was sick:

Kongen min kaster hodet bakover
og ler med tannkjøttet
det er det ingen andre konger som gjør
snakker om psykisk helse
gutter som liker gutter
og jenter jenter
klemmer kona si og Johaug
i frivilligdress from ’94
spør om det finnes en
som alle jeg kjenner er glad i
det er kongen min
ingen fler egentlig
det er nok derfor akkurat han
er kongen min

My king throws his head back
and laughs with his gums
that is something no other king does
talks about mental health
boys who like boys
and girls girls
hugs his wife and Johaug (XC skier Therese Johaug broke protocol and hugged the king on national TV, emphasizing his approachability)
in a volunteer uniform from ’94 (at the Lillihammer Olympics, he personified public service by wearing the volunteers’ uniforms)
When one asks if there’s one
that everyone I know likes
that’s my king
no one else really
that’s probably why he’s exactly
my king

A common feeling seems to be that, in the abstract, a logical person believes there is no good reason for a King or royal family in Norway. However, in practice, the run of good kings has made Norway proud and has strengthened the nation. I certainly haven’t been here long enough to have an emotional connection with the King, but one can always take a moment to reflect on the loss of a good man.