– With this party here at the Castle, we want to celebrate our country, the people who live here, and everything about Norway that we are happy about, says the Crown Prince when he welcomed the guests. Both Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg, who was prime minister when the crown prince couple married in 2001, athletes, ordinary people the crown prince couple have met on trips across the country – and the family – are on hand to celebrate the royal 50th birthday. They each have their own, unique stories about personal meetings with the crown prince couple. Everything from fishermen who have accompanied the couple on trips to sea, representatives of organizations that the crown prince and crown princess are patrons of, to ministers and the man who designed Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s wedding dress 22 years ago. The crown princess’s older brother: – My little sister has a very special place in my heart The crown princess’s family, including older brother Espen Høiby, has a natural place among the guests. – It’s my little sister, attpåklatten, so she has a very special place in my heart, he says to news on the way into the Castle. He praises Crown Princess Mette-Marit both as a sister and as Norway’s Crown Princess. – I think she does a brilliant job. She has become very confident in the role. When you talk to Mette-Marit, you feel like you are the only person in the whole world. – What is it like to have a little sister who will one day become the country’s queen? – It’s special, it can’t be missed. But we have expected this, that she became crown princess and sometime in the future will become queen. I think she will do an excellent job, says Høiby. Among the guests is also Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who himself has a birthday today, and who is a personal friend of the crown prince couple. – The monarchy has great support and binds us together. It is a safe and soft rounding of our country at the top. In other countries, you can have controversial people at the top, but here there is a unifying figure that unites, says Støre. Photo: Hanna Johre / NTB – Friendship has meant a lot in a demanding time Nina Jensen, former secretary general of the WWF World Wide Fund for Nature and now head of the research and expedition ship MS “REV Ocean”, is present to celebrate her good friends, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit. – It is a very good friendship that is filled with lots of inspiration, joy and motivation, says Jensen to news. She has known the crown prince couple for several years and has developed a close relationship with them. Not least, they were a great support for her during a difficult time when her partner died of cancer a few years ago. – The friendship has meant a lot to me in a demanding time, says Jensen. – The Crown Prince couple knew us both, and they have shown a completely unique care and humanity and love during this difficult time. When you are in such a difficult situation, it means a lot to have friends who you may not see very often, but who still take the time to give you comfort in a busy everyday life for them. It shows how good people they are. Didn’t want to celebrate themselves Tonight – on the crown prince couple’s 22nd wedding anniversary – close to 400 guests are celebrating Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s 50th birthday together with the celebrants and the rest of the royal family. Instead of a gala dinner with foreign royal guests, the crown prince couple have chosen to invite people from all over Norway to an outdoor backyard party at the Palace. The marking of the 50th anniversary already started in February, when the couple carried out the first of five anniversary trips around the country to highlight some of what they value most in Norway. Get to know the people and the country. – None of us were so “keen” to celebrate ourselves, said Crown Princess Mette-Marit when news met her on the occasion of her birthday this summer. – So instead we wanted to celebrate what we like about Norway, and the nice people who live in this country. Say “hi, we appreciate you, you are important to our country”.
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The Crown Prince couple celebrate their 50th birthday with a backyard party at the Palace – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
