July 20 – Birthday of Crown Prince Haakon of Norway

nPostednon July 20, 2015

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nHaakonnMagnus is the heir apparent to the Throne of Norway – which meansnthat he is next in line when his father, King Harald V, steps down orndies. n

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Atnage 42, Haakon actually has an older sister, Princess Martha Louise.nIt seems surprising in this day and age that the royal line goesnthrough male heirs only, but that’s how it is in Norway. Actually, Inwas surprised to read that Norway’s royalty isn’t as much just anfigurehead as so many other kings and queens are these days. n

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nNorwaynis a constitutional monarchy with state power divided between thenParliament (called the Storting), the King and his Council, and thenSupreme Court.

nStill, the political leader of Norway – and the headnof the government of Norway – is the Prime Minister.

Andnalthough Norway’s Constitution grants executive powers to the King,nthey are almost always actually done by the King’s Council, and evennthose on the Council, while in theory appointed by the King accordingnto his own judgement, have since the late 1800s been mostly chosen bynthe elected governmental officials. n

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nCrownnPrince Haakon has official duties, and he chooses cultural events andnartists to patronize and promote. He established an organizationncalled Global Dignity, promoting the right of every human on earth tonlead a dignified life. One of the things the organization has workednon recently is the effort to end cyber-bullying.

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nAnquote from the Global Dignity website nis, “Inna world where it seems no-one agrees on anything, a world wherenpolitics divides, religion divides, and race and even culturalnborders seem to divide, dignity is something that everyone can agreenon.”

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nNorwaynis Way North!

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nInwas interested to read that Norway’s length and geography meant thatnit had more different kinds of habitats than almost any othernEuropean country, because I figured that any country that far northn(it’s one of the northernmost nations in the world) and thatnmountainous (it’s one of the most mountainous countries in Europe)nwould have mostly just snow and ice, seals and reindeer. However,nmore than 60,000 different species in Norway and its waters reflects morenbiodiversity than I had thought!
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One thing that mountainous countries with lots
of melting snow and ice tend to have is gorgeous
waterfalls… And, oh yeah, this is gorgeous!

nInalways think of Norway as a nice long dollop of land similar tonSweden in shape, but a close up of any portion of a map of Norwaynreveals an incredibly complex, rugged coastline with deepnindentations and fjords plus more than 50,000 islands!

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Norway’s fjords are famous and beautiful!

nThenpopular movie Frozen is supposed to be set in Arendelle, but Kristoff’s clothing and reindeer are reminiscent of the Sami people ofnnorthern Norway.