Posted
on July 20, 2015
Haakon
Magnus is the heir apparent to the Throne of Norway – which means
that he is next in line when his father, King Harald V, steps down or
dies.
At
age 42, Haakon actually has an older sister, Princess Martha Louise.
It seems surprising in this day and age that the royal line goes
through male heirs only, but that's how it is in Norway. Actually, I
was surprised to read that Norway's royalty isn't as much just a
figurehead as so many other kings and queens are these days.
Norway
is a constitutional monarchy with state power divided between the
Parliament (called the Storting), the King and his Council, and the
Supreme Court.
Still, the political leader of Norway – and the head
of the government of Norway – is the Prime Minister.
And although Norway's Constitution grants executive powers to the King, they are almost always actually done by the King's Council, and even those on the Council, while in theory appointed by the King according to his own judgement, have since the late 1800s been mostly chosen by the elected governmental officials.
And although Norway's Constitution grants executive powers to the King, they are almost always actually done by the King's Council, and even those on the Council, while in theory appointed by the King according to his own judgement, have since the late 1800s been mostly chosen by the elected governmental officials.
Crown
Prince Haakon has official duties, and he chooses cultural events and
artists to patronize and promote. He established an organization
called Global Dignity, promoting the right of every human on earth to
lead a dignified life. One of the things the organization has worked
on recently is the effort to end cyber-bullying.
A
quote from the Global Dignity website
is, "In
a world where it seems no-one agrees on anything, a world where
politics divides, religion divides, and race and even cultural
borders seem to divide, dignity is something that everyone can agree
on."
Norway
is Way North!
I was interested to read that Norway's length and geography meant that it had more different kinds of habitats than almost any other European country, because I figured that any country that far north (it's one of the northernmost nations in the world) and that mountainous (it's one of the most mountainous countries in Europe) would have mostly just snow and ice, seals and reindeer. However, more than 60,000 different species in Norway and its waters reflects more biodiversity than I had thought!
 |
| One thing that mountainous countries with lots of melting snow and ice tend to have is gorgeous waterfalls... And, oh yeah, this is gorgeous! |
I
always think of Norway as a nice long dollop of land similar to
Sweden in shape, but a close up of any portion of a map of Norway
reveals an incredibly complex, rugged coastline with deep
indentations and fjords plus more than 50,000 islands!
Norway's fjords are famous and beautiful!
The
popular movie Frozen is supposed to be set in Arendelle, but Kristoff's clothing and reindeer are reminiscent of the Sami people of
northern Norway.
When
I think of North and Norway, I think of the Northern Lights. Gorgeous!
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