The birth of a prince is always an historic event. However, it was a particularly special occasion for the Norwegian people when an heir to the throne came into the world on 21 February 1937. The prince was born at Skaugum, the estate that is still one of the homes of the Royal family. This was the first time in 567 years that a prince had been born in Norway, and the birth ensured the line of succession of the relatively newly established Royal family. King Haakon VII became King of Norway after the dissolution of the union with Sweden in 1905.
King Harald is the son of King Olav V (1903-1991) and Crown Princess Märtha (1901-1954). King Olav was son of King Haakon VII (1872-1957) and Queen Maud (1869-1938). King Haakon was Prince Carl of Denmark before he was elected King of Norway in 1905. Queen Maud was the daughter of the Prince of Wales, later to become King Edward VII, and Queen Alexandra of Britain. King Harald's mother was the daughter of the Swedish Prince Carl (1861-1951) and Princess Ingeborg (1878-1958).
King Olav's announcement in 1968 that Crown Prince Harald wished to marry a commoner triggered a heated political debate on the future of the monarchy. The Crown Prince had known his bride-to-be for nine years before it was decided that they were to marry. King Olav himself made the decision after having consulted the Government, the President of the Storting and the leaders of the various parliamentary groups in the Storting.
The response was favourable. The vast majority of the population accepted Sonja Haraldsen immediately with great enthusiasm, which indicates the status enjoyed by the Royal family and by Sonja Haraldsen as an individual. She became inseparably linked with the national unity symbolized by the Norwegian Royal Family.
The marriage took place in August 1968. The couple's first child, Märtha Louise, was born on 22. September 1971, and the second, Prince Haakon, on 20 July 1973.
Queen Sonja was born on 4 July 1937, and grew up in Oslo. After completing lower secondary school,. she took a diploma in dressmaking and tailoring at the Oslo Vocational School and a diploma in dressmaking at the Ecole Professionelle des Jeunes Filles in Lausanne, Switzerland. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, French and art history from the University of Oslo. The Queen has been particularly involved in humanitarian work, and she served as Vice President of the Norwegian Red Cross for a number of years. She is also known to have a keen interest in art and culture.
King Harald and Queen Sonja are both involved in various forms of outdoor recreation and are nature lovers. They also played an active role in the preparations for the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer. Whereas Crown Princess Sonja took part in the planning of cultural activities, Crown Prince Harald was honorary chairman of the Lillehammer Olympic Organizing Committee and a member of LOOC's general assembly.
His Majesty has made a name for himself in a number of national and international sailing competitions. As Crown Prince, he represented Norway several times in the Olympic Games, won the Gold Cup Races in 1968, and took first place in the Kiel Week Races in 1972. He was number two in the world championship in the half-ton class in 1982. In the summer of 1987, he won the world championship with his new yacht, the one-ton "Fram X", which was a gift from the Norwegian business community on his fiftieth birthday. The following year the yacht and its crew won a bronze medal in the world championship in San Francisco.