The Norwegian Royal Family host the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh on their glittering State Visit to Norway on this day in 2001, the last of the three State Visits to Norway during the Queen’s Reign, and the last to another European Monarchy. The British and Norwegian Royal Families are very closely related through the British-born Queen Maud of Norway, a sister of the Queen’s grandfather, King George V, and Queen and Duke’s State Visit to Norway in 1955 was the first outgoing State Visit of her Reign, followed by another in 1981, and this one in 2001, as well as hosted the Norwegian Royal Family in 1959, 1962, 1988, 1994, and 2005. The Royal Family have also frequently holidayed with the Norwegian Royal Family, most notably in 1969.
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Embed from Getty Images2001: State Visit by Queen Elizabeth II to Norway. From left: the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Astrid, Queen Elizabeth II, Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby, King Harald V, Crown Prince Haakon, Queen Sonja and Princess Märtha Louise. #RoyalVisitNorway pic.twitter.com/v1qpF3FPNT
— RoyalArjan (@RoyalArjan) January 29, 2018
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2001: State Visit by Queen Elizabeth II to Norway. From left: the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Astrid, Queen Elizabeth II, Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby, King Harald V, Crown Prince Haakon, Queen Sonja and Princess Märtha Louise. #RoyalVisitNorway pic.twitter.com/v1qpF3FPNT
— RoyalArjan (@RoyalArjan) January 29, 2018
Following an Official Welcome Ceremony and Luncheon, the highlight of the visit was a State Banquet hosted by King Harald (wearing the Order of the Garter) and Queen Sonja (wearing the Emerald Parure Tiara and the Order of St. Olav) in honour of Queen (wearing Queen Alexandra’s Kokoshnik Tiara, and the Order of St. Olav) and Duke (in the Order of St. Olav) at the Royal Palace of Oslo. Crown Prince Haakon, Mette Marit Tjessem Hoiby, Princess Martha Louise (wearing King Olav’s Gift Tiara), and Princess Astrid (in Queen Alexandra’s Turquoise Circlet and the Order of St. Olav) were also present.
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The following day, King Harald and Queen Sonja joined the Queen and Duke for a visit to the Oslo City Hall, the HMS Illustrious, and the Bolteløkka school, before joining the rest of the Royal Family for a Luncheon hosted by the Norwegian Government at the Akershus Fortress. That afternoon, the Queen visited the Astrup Fearnley Museum in Oslo, while Queen Sonja and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the English school ship STA Stavros S. Niarchos.
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That evening, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh hosted a Return Dinner for King Harald, Queen Sonja and the extended Norwegian Royal Family at the British Ambassador’s Residence in Oslo, quite different from the Banquets on the Royal Yacht Britannia she had hosted on her previous State Visits.
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On the final day of the State Visit, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh bid farewell to the Norwegian Royal Family at the Royal Palace of Oslo, as they departed Norway to return to Britain, ending a State Visit that lasted less than three days, with an itinerary of just one-and-a-half days, but Buckingham Palace officials judged the trip a success.
Just a tiny correction here, if I may… you said that Queen Elizabeth was wearing the Wladimir tiara. She did wear that back in 1981 when she visited King Olav. But for the State Banquet hosted by King Harald she wore the Queen Alexandra Kokoshnik tiara.