Less than one year after, in January 1991, Norway was mourning its King. On the 17th January, King Olav V, the oldest of the European monarchs, died in the winter residence of the Royal Family, after some painful months, after thirty-three years of reign. Canon blasts and bell ringing announced the death of the much-loved King Olav, the second King of Norway after his father, King Haakon VII, born Prince Carl of Denmark and elected as the first king of the new independent country; the canons also announced the new reign which began in the same moment of the King’s death, the reign of the third King of Norway, Harald V, until then Crown Prince Harald. Just hours after the announcement of his father’s death, the new King presided over a Cabinet meeting in the Royal Palace of Oslo, where a court mourning of four months was decided, and after which the new sovereign gave a speech to the nation. King Olav’s body arrived to the Palace less than two days after and then began the lying-in-state, during which the Norwegians were able to pay their last respect’s to the deceased sovereign, grandfather of the nation.

On the 21st January, the new King was enthroned. The cortege of several cars left the Royal Palace of Oslo towards the Storting, where the King entered in full uniform of Army General, wearing the Order of St. Olav and the Order of Merit, accompanied by Queen Sonja, in a long black dress, with mourning veil. The King stood under the canopy, in the centre of the back wall, in front of the magnificent throne with the Norwegian coat of arms in red. The President of the Chamber presented the King the formula that he should read so that the enthronement would be accomplished, and the King swore the oath, before pronouncing a brief speech, in which he said:

“At this first meeting between the people's elected representatives and me as King, I would like to express the hope that the good relationship which has existed between the Storting and my father, and before that my grandfather, will be maintained and then developed in line with the tasks the country in the future will meet. The Queen and I confirm that we will be devoted to fulfil our mission for the country and people. In the light of this tradition I have, as King of Norway, chosen the motto: All for Norway.”

Queen Sonja was the first Queen of Norway to enter the Storting in 69 years, for since 1938, when Queen Maud died, Norway hadn’t had a Queen. After some 10 years of fight towards acceptation by the King and Court, Miss Sonja Haraldsen had been allowed to marry the Crown Prince of Norway, and, more than 20 years after, she had definitely won the Norwegian people’s respect.

In 1906, the first King of the independent Norway, King Haakon VII (King Harald’s grandfather), had been crowned in a glittering ceremony at Nidaros Cathedral, in Trondheim. When King Olav acceded the throne in 1957, there was, however, no more coronation ceremony, but a consecration (in 1958), accordingly to a tradition of several centuries in Norway, which had been replaced by the coronations. On King Harald’s wish, a consecration would be held at the Nidaros Cathedral, to mark his enthronement, after the end of the family mourning. Seen as a strictly national event, the foreign countries didn’t have special delegations, and were simply represented by their ambassadors to Oslo. On the 23rd June 1991, thousands of Norwegians gathered in the historic city, the historic capital of the country, to greet the new Norwegian sovereigns on their consecration day. It was the closest possible to get to a coronation ceremony, in the history of the European enthronements since 1964.

More than 1500 guests, mainly Norwegian, apart of the Diplomatic Corps, rose to the entrance of King Harald V, dressed in full uniform of Army General, Queen Sonja, in a white dress, embellished with pearls, Crown Prince Haakon and Princess Martha-Louise, all preceded by the Lutheran bishops. Instead of a tiara and accordingly to great simplicity of the ceremony (contrasting with the magnificence of the ceremony in 1906), Queen Sonja wore a “kokoshnik”, as did Princess Martha, also dressed in white. The Prince and Princess sat in the first row of the guests, while the sovereigns sat in their magnificent golden chairs, under a modern-design canopy. The Norwegian Crown Jewels were also in the altar, although were not used in the ceremony. The ceremony achieved its climax when, amidst prayers asking for the help of God in the sovereign’s mission, the King kneeled in front of Bishop of Nidaros, who blessed and consecrated the King. The ceremony, attended by representatives of all the counties in their traditional dresses, ended amidst liturgical songs.

The King and Queen have had the support of royal Europe for them demonstrated in several occasions, most understandably the celebrations of their Silver Wedding Anniversary, in 1993, and their 60th Birthdays, in 1997, some of the most impressive gatherings of royals in the last few years. Today, the Norwegian Monarchy, although undoubtedly strong, faces the future with uncertainty. The popularity of the whole royal family is high at the moment, but the relationship of the Crown Prince with a single mother, Miss Mette-Marit Høiby, whose son’s father has been jailed in connection with drug possession, promises to highlight the debate on the future of the monarchy in the future.

Finally, before the accession of Grand-Duke Henri of Luxembourg, on the 7th October 2000, it was his uncle, Prince Albert of Liége, whole became King. In difficult conditions, the Prince Royal Baudouin of Belgium had acceded the throne in 1951, after the abdication of his father King Leopold III. The monarchy became extremely strong in the next years, especially after the wedding of King Baudouin I with Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, a Spanish noblewoman. Unfortunately, the King and Queen of the Belgians weren’t given any children and thus, the heir to the throne was the Prince of Liége, Albert, youngest brother of King Baudouin and Grand Duchess Josephine Charlotte of Luxembourg. He was married in 1959 to Princess Paola Ruffo di Calabria, member of the Italian high aristocracy, and the couple have had three children: Prince Philippe, Princess Astrid and Prince Laurent. King Baudouin was perhaps the most loved sovereign of the Belgian short history as an independent country. The whole country was deeply saddened by the death of the King, on the 31st July 1993, in Motril, Spain, where he was on vacation with Queen Fabiola.

The country’s sadness was impressive, almost unprecedented. In a country known for its divisions between French and Dutch speaking, the whole people united in the tribute to the most Catholic of the sovereigns. Among the confusion, many guaranteed that the successor would be Prince Philippe, the nephew and said to be spiritual son of King Baudouin. However, the Prime-Minister confirmed that there was no reason to jump the natural line of succession and that King Baudouin would be succeeded by his brother, the Prince of Liége. As the automatic changing of reigns and the principle “the king is dead, long live the king” does not apply in Belgium, during more than a week Belgium had no king. Queen Fabiola, dressed in white and braving her sadness, presided the funeral of her beloved husband in St. Michael and St. Gudula’s Cathedral of Brussels, where she had married him in 1960. After the impressive funeral, held on the 7th August 1993, which gathered an impressive number of heads of state (including Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, who had never in her reign attended a funeral of someone not in her direct family, apart of the one of Sir Winston Churchill), it was time to prepare the enthronement of the next King of the Belgians. Several changes were noticed from the enthronement of king Baudouin in 1951, most understandably the non-use of the canopy in the back wall of the Parliament.

The enthronement took place two days after the funeral, and the national mourning was suppressed on that occasion. The Prince and Princess of Liége arrived accompanied by Queen Fabiola and the other members of the Royal Family and entered the Parliament. In the chamber, where, to the right of the throne, the Royal Family had taken place, a clear voice shouted “Le Roi”, on the entrance of the new sovereign. Having taken place in the throne, and as the new King prepared to pronounce the constitutional formula who formally turned him into the sixth King of the Belgians, a Flemish deputy replayed the incident of his brother King Baudouin’s enthronement on crying a “long live the republic of Europe”. The incident came to show the immense support of the chamber for King Albert as all the other deputies shouted “Vive le Roi!” just after and the whole chamber rose to applause. The King then swore the oath:

“I swear to observe the constitution and the laws of the Belgian people and to maintain the national independence and the integrity of the territory.”

Afterwards, King Albert II pronounced his first speech as sovereign, in which he vowed to continue his brother’s work for Belgium. The King, Queen Paola and Queen Fabiola, and the other members of the Royal Family, left the Palace of the Nation, as it is called, and outside paid tribute to the “Unknown Warrior”, before the King passed the troops in review. The new sovereigns then rounded the Place des Palais towards the Royal Palace, where they appeared in the balcony, to the cheers of thousands of Belgians. Queen Fabiola and all the members of their family later joined them. The King has, since then, gathered concord among the Belgian people, and the Royal Family is seen as the lonely possible union of the Belgian people. This was proved once more, when in September 1999, the King announced the engagement of his son, Crown Prince Philippe, with Miss Mathilde d’Udekem d’Acoz, a young noblewoman who immediately conquered the whole country, as it was proved in the Joyeuses Entrées held throughout the Belgian provinces and in their wedding day in December. Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde, the Duke and Duchess of Brabant assure the continuity of the monarchy today, in the beginning of the new Millenium.

The decision of Grand-Duke Jean to abdicate in his son, the Hereditary Grand-Duke Henri, was announced in the traditional Christmas’ eve televised message to the nation. The dignity of the occasion made the Governement and the people prepare the tributes to Grand-Duke Jean and the celebrations with great interest and all was prepared so that the 28th September ceremonies would be a day of national joyous celebration. But the accident of the new Grand-Duke’s brother and sister-in-law, Prince Guillaume and Princess Sibilla, on the 10th September would spoil the whole plan for a joyous national event. On the approach of the ceremonies and given the poor health of Prince Guillaume, the Prime Minister announced that the abdication and enthronement ceremonies would be postponed until the 7th October and the grand national celebrations were postponed to 2001.

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Part Six