As King Charles III’ coronation is only days away, many European royals will be making their way to England for the event.
The coronation, in honour of Charles and his wife Camilla, Queen Consort, will be taking place at Westminster Abbey on Saturday 6 May. The couple’s big day is expected to have over 2,000 guests, ranging from members of the British royal family to foreign rulers from different countries.
Two of the European royals who received an invitation include His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, and his wife, Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway. On their official website, the Prince and Princess confirmed that they’d be attending a reception at Buckingham Palace on 5 May before attending the King’s coronation the next day.
Haakon and Mette-Marit’s upcoming trip to London also comes two months after they visited the UK. During their visit to Windsor Castle in March, they were greeted by Prince William and Kate Middleton. According to a tweet shared by the Prince and Princess of Wales’ on 2 March, the two couples had a conversation that morning about “green energy, the environment and much more”.
Over the years, Haakon has previously stepped in for his father, King Harald V, as the 49-year-old is next in line for the throne. His personal life also made headlines in 2001 when he married Mette-Marit, who does not come from a royal family.
So, who is Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit?
Born on 20 July 1973 in Oslo, Norway, Prince Haakon is the only son of King Harald and Queen Sonja. He has an older sister, Princess Märtha Louise, who stepped down from her royal duties in November 2022. While he is the King and Queen’s youngest child, he was still born as heir to the throne. It wasn’t until 1990 that Norway’s order of succession became absolute primogeniture, which is a law that allows the eldest child to be next in line for the throne, regardless of what gender they are.
Haakon got his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science at University of California at Berkeley in 1999 and his Master’s in development studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2003.
He also served in the Navy after graduating from the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy in Bergen in 1995. As noted by the The Royal Highness’ official website, he holds three different ranks in his services: General in the Norwegian Armed Forces, admiral in the Norwegian Navy, and general in the Norwegian Air Force.
Some of his official duties in Norway have been focused on the issue of climate change and innovating Norwegian businesses. Regarding his international work, he has been the Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme since 2003. Through that organisation, his goal is to “the fight to alleviate poverty” and to push for “sustainable oceans,” per his official website.
He previously assumed the title of regent, meaning he ruled as King without officially being crowned. More specifically, he performed the King’s duties in December 2019 because his father was sick right before Christmas. Haakon also took on his father’s responsibilities for three days in 2018 when Harald stepped back due to acute foot pain.
The Prince found himself in a midst of controversy in 2016 amid reports that he secretly rented flats on his official estate without permission, despite some of them being unsafe to live in. At the time, he left out 11 properties in defiance of the Scandinavian country’s property laws. Five of the dwellings were found to be endangering their inhabitants.
The royal was ordered to remove petrol stored in the basement of the buildings at Skaugum, a 1,280-acre country property 12 miles southwest of Oslo. His tenants were moved to hotels while fire alarms were installed. The Sunday Times later reported that the royal was granted a temporary letting permit and that his tenants were able to return.
This scandal also came one year after Haakon and his wife made headlines for reportedly spending their holidays on a luxury private yacht costing over £200,000 per week.
Before getting married, Haakon’s wife was born as Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby on 19 August 1973. When the pair first started dating in the ‘90s, some concerns about their relationship were reported. Mette-Marit’s ex, Morten Borg was once convicted for drug possession. Before splitting from Borg, they welcomed a son, Marius Borg Høiby, who is now 26-years-old.
Mette-Marit comes from a middle class family in Norway. Throughout her younger years, she was a waitress for a year and a half, and tried out a few different courses such as engineering, journalism and social anthropology.
She and her husband officially tied the knot on 25 August 2001 at Oslo Cathedral. They went on to welcome two children: Princess Ingrid Alexandra, 19, and Prince Sverre Magnus, 17.
After getting married, she went back to school. She took courses at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London in 2003, per Her Royal Highness’ official website. She began studying at the BI Norwegian School of Management in Oslo in 2008 and got her master’s degree in management there in 2012.
As a member of the royal family, some of her official duties included her work with the The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). She was appointed Special Representative for the organisation in 2006. In 2017, she became the ambassador for Norwegian Literature Abroad and served as Guest of Honour at the 2019 Frankfurt Book Fair.
She has also spoken out about her personal life. The Princess revealed in 2018 that she’d been diagnosed with a chronic lung disease. A statement published by the Royal Court at the time noted that her diagnosis could end up limiting her involvement with her royal duties.
“For a number of years I have occasionally had health challenges, and now we know more about what these are at the root of,” she said in the statement, which was translated from Norwegian to English via Google Translate. “The condition means that work capacity will vary.”
She continued: “The Crown Prince and I choose to inform about this now, partly because in the future there will be a need to plan periods without an official programme. In connection with treatment, and when the disease is more active, this will be necessary.”
Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit are set to join the many European royals at the King’s coronation on Saturday. Some of these royals include Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, and King Carl XVI Gustaf and Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden.
