CONCERNING ROYALTY

Otago Witness, Issue 3912, 5 March 1929, Page 76

CONCERNING ROYALTY

THE NORWEGIAN ROYAL MARRIAGE. By J-. P. (Special for the Otago Witness.) Since the slump in royalty at the close of the war, there are fewer royal weddings occurring to attract public interest. And another result of the slump is that the heirs of kingdoms have now a much more limited choice. Prince Olaf of Norway is to be married presently to his first cousin, Princess Martha of Sweden, and it has been recognised that he could hardly go beyond his kindred in Sweden and Denmark for the partner who may ultimately share his throne. His name was coupled with that of Princess Ingrid, daughter of the Crown Prince of Sweden and his late wife, Margaret of Connaught, but like many other society rumours of royal engagements, nothing came of it. Both the princesses, by the way, were born on March 28, but Martha will be 28 and Ingrid only 19 at their next anniversary. Princess Martha is the second daughter of Prince Karl of Sweden, and it was her younger sister Astrid who, two years ago, married Prince Leopold, heir of Belgium. The mother of the two princesses is Ingeborg of Denmark, sister of King Haakon of Norwqy, and those.who place much store upon the rule of eugenics that near relatives should not marry, will feel some regret that not only are the contracting parties in this' instance first cousins, but that their parents on both sides married near relatives.

A generation ago Norway and Sweden formed a dual kingdom under Oscar II (Bernadatte), the union dating from the Treaty of Kiel, January, 1814. But the two kingdoms did not pull well together, and in 1905 a referendum in Norway gave an overwhelming vote in favour of the dissolution of the Union. This move for separation had nothing to do with the king personally; in fact, the Norwegians felt very deeply for him in the crisis. Dr. Sigel Roush says that while a few hot-headed Swedish statesmen were in favour of using force to whip Norway back into the Union, King Oscar was totally averse to war, and peaceable counsels prevailed. Dr Roush asked a Norwegian member of Parliament why Norway all at once had decided to withdraw. The reply was that it was not a sudden resolution, and that the mo big consideration was not dissatisfaction with King Oscar, but political and economic reasons. After a few years of separation, Norway found her commerce improved and money more plentiful, so that the severance had proved a good thing for the people generally. King Haakon of Norway, then Prince Charles of Denmark, had met his wife (Princess Maud of- Wales) at the Amalienborg Palace, Copenhagen, in 1895, when her mother was visiting her Danish relatives. It was a case of love at first sight, although the princess was nearlv three years older than Prince CRarles. Despite some opposition on both sides the marriage took place the following year, and seven years later their only child, Prince Olaf, was born. Prince Charles was a tall handsome man, who had served in the Danish Navy since the age of fourteen. His mother Louisa, who died three years ago, had some ambition for him to be the consort of Queen Wilhelmina, of Holland, Louisa’s mother having been a Dutch princess. For some years after their marriage, the Prince and Princess Charles of Denmark lived in simple style, until the invitation from Norway came to them. Their aged grandfather, the King of Denmark, at an impressive gathering in the Amalienborg Palace, accepted it on their behalf, and with much emotion kissed the new King and Quean of Norway. In compliance with ’ Norwegian sentiment Charles changed his name to Haakon, and his two-year-old son, Alexander was thence-forward known as Qlaf. Two months later King Christian, the Nestor of European sovereigns, passed away at the age of eighty-seven, and since then, as most people know, his grandsons have occupied five thrones in Europe. The Norwegian capital, Christiania (now Oslo), had a thick mantle of snow when its new king arrived at the end of 1905, but the welcome froin a hundred thousand citizens was not a “ wintry ” one by any means'. - Perhaps the sight of the little prince held in his father’s arms evoked additional fervour. “ Olaf ” the child’s name is to be; and those cheering patriots remembered King Olaf “the Saint” of nine centuries previously, the redoubtable champion of Christianity against the sturdy adherents of the old heathen superstition. The King-Saint’s methods were rather rough, as Thomas Carlyle shows—conflagration or Christianity being the alternatives offered to a heathen village. But in his rigorous administration of the laws, his repression of robbery, his punishment of injustice, and his visiting with stern retribution the misconduct of evil men, Olaf was more entitled to his halo than many another, who has been called “ Saint.”

So young Olaf of our day, who is now about to be married, recalls (by the name he has taken) inspiring memories of the dawn of Christianity in the land of Woden and Thor. Heaven send him posterity. One wonders what would hap-

pen if he died without issue. Would the succession automatically go to the king’s younger brothers Harold and Gustav, or would there have to be a national election, as in the case of Haakon? Time will tell.