Princess Ragnhild, Mrs. Lorentzen

Princess Ragnhild, Mrs. Lorentzen
Born (1930-06-09)9 June 1930
Royal Palace,[1] Oslo, Norway
Died 16 September 2012(2012-09-16) (aged 82)[2][3]
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Burial 28 September 2012
Asker Church[4]
Spouse Erling Lorentzen
(m. 1953–2012)
Issue Haakon Lorentzen
Ingeborg Lorentzen
Ragnhild Lorentzen
Full name
Ragnhild Alexandra
House Glücksburg
Father Olav V of Norway
Mother Princess Märtha of Sweden

Princess Ragnhild Alexandra, Mrs. Lorentzen (9 June 1930 – 16 September 2012) was the eldest child of King Olav V of Norway and Princess Märtha of Sweden. She was the older sister of King Harald V and Princess Astrid.

Early life

Princess Ragnhild was the first Norwegian princess born on Norwegian soil for 629 years.[5] She grew up at the royal residence of Skaugum near Asker, west of Oslo. She was christened in the Palace Chapel on 27 June 1930 and her godparents were: her paternal grandparents, The King and Queen of Norway; her maternal grandparents, The Duke and Duchess of Västergötland; her granduncle, The King of Sweden; her grandaunt, Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom; her maternal aunt, Princess Margaretha of Denmark; and The Duke of York. During World War II, she fled the German invasion of Norway with her family in 1940,[2] spending the wartime years in exile with her mother and siblings in Washington, D.C.. Before the birth of her younger brother, it was assumed she would accede to the throne in the absence of a male heir, although this would have required a constitutional amendment, as women could not inherit the throne at the time.[2]

She opened the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, as her father and grandfather were attending the funeral of King George VI.[6]

Marriage and family

Princess Ragnhild married Erling Lorentzen, a member of the Norwegian merchant upper-class (see Lorentzen family), in Asker on 15 May 1953. There was great controversy when she married Lorentzen, a businessman and army officer who had served as her bodyguard during the War, as she was the first member of the Norwegian Royal Family to marry non-royalty. Soon after the couple's wedding, it was announced that the flag of Norway would no longer be flown on her birthday (9 June).

Following her marriage, the couple moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where her husband has substantial business holdings, originally as a temporary residence, but they eventually settled there, and remained there in until her death in 2012.[3] In Brazil, her husband founded Aracruz Celulose. She had three children with her husband:

Public life

A conservative, Princess Ragnhild publicly criticized her niece and nephew, Princess Märtha Louise and Crown Prince Haakon Magnus, for their choice of spouses, in 2004.[7]

Princess Ragnhild was patron of the Norwegian Organisation for the Hearing Impaired.

Several ships, including MS Prinsesse Ragnhild, were named for her.

Death

Princess Ragnhild died at her home in Rio de Janeiro on 16 September 2012,[8] following a period of cancer illness, aged 82.[3] Her body arrived in Oslo on 24 September 2012, where her brother King Harald V and her sister Princess Astrid were present to greet her alongside her spouse Erling and their children. The funeral of Princess Ragnhild was held on 28 September 2012 in the chapel of the Royal Palace of Oslo. She was later cremated and privately interred in the church of Asker.[9]

Titles and styles

Styles of
Princess Raghnild of Norway
Reference style Her Highness
Spoken style Your Highness
Alternative style Ma'am

Honours

See also List of honours of the Norwegian Royal Family by country

A 540 000 km² area in Antarctica is named Princess Ragnhild Coast in her honour. The Jahre Line (later Color Line) cruiseferry MS Prinsesse Ragnhild was named in her honour.

Ancestry

She was a great-great granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and thus a second cousin to Queen Elizabeth II.[10] At the time of her death she was no. 77 in the line of succession to the British throne. Princess Ragnhild's maternal aunt was Queen Astrid of Belgium, which also made Princess Ragnhild a first cousin of kings Baudouin and Albert II of Belgium.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Kongehuset
  2. 1 2 3 Solveig Husøy (16 September 2012). "Prinsesse Ragnhild er død" (in Norwegian). NRK. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 Lohne, Jenny-Linn (16 September 2012). "Prinsesse Ragnhild er død" (in Norwegian). VG. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
  4. ↑ Kongehuset
  5. ↑ http://trondni.blogspot.com/2010/06/on-this-date-princess-ragnhild-is-80.html
  6. ↑ http://olympic.org/oslo-1952-winter-olympics
  7. ↑ Here's what Princess Ragnhild said
  8. ↑ "Prinsesse Ragnhild er død" (in Norwegian). The Royal House of Norway. 16 September 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  9. ↑ "Funérailles de la princesse Ragnhild de Norvège".
  10. ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/royalty-obituaries/9561327/Princess-Ragnhild-of-Norway.html
  11. ↑ http://www.thepeerage.com/p10125.htm#i101244
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