Norway’s last female monarch reigned 600 years ago
Credit: Terje Pedersen / NTB / AFP via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway is the first heir in generations to be of age when her father acceded to the throne
- At age 22, she will be able to legally rule as regent if King Haakon is traveling or otherwise unavailable
- Ingrid Alexandra is also posed to be Norway’s first female monarch in 600 years
As the new King Haakon of Norway takes his oath as monarch, his 22-year-old daughter, Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra, is also making history as his heir.
On Tuesday, Sept. 1, King Haakon took an Oath of Allegiance to the constitution before the Storting, the supreme legislature and parliament of Norway. The oath was taken just four days after his father, King Harald, died, making Haakon the new monarch.
Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra is now heir to the throne. Following her father’s spoken oath, she submitted a written declaration that officially validates her position, ensuring she can legally step in and rule as regent whenever her father is traveling, incapacitated or unavailable.
Ingrid Alexandra is making history as heir for a few reasons. This marks the first time in Norway’s modern royal history that a new heir apparent is already over the age of 18 at the moment of succession. Recent heirs, including Ingrid Alexandra’s father and grandfather, were underage when their fathers became monarch, so they took their oaths on their 18th birthdays.
Credit: Lise Åserud / NTB / AFP via Getty
Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra is also the first Norwegian royal to be affected by the country’s change to the succession laws in 1990. The switch introduced absolute primogeniture, which states that the eldest child inherits the throne regardless of gender, rather than favoring male heirs. Therefore, Ingrid Alexandra was not moved down in the line of succession when her younger brother, 20-year-old Prince Sverre Magnus, was born.
Queen Mette-Marit also has an elder son, Marius Borg Høiby, from a previous relationship before her marriage to King Haakon, who is not included in the line of succession.
King Haakon has an elder sister, Princess Märtha Louise. However, because he was born before the change in the law, Haakon moved ahead of his sister in the line of succession to the throne.
If she accedes to the throne as expected, Ingrid Alexandra will be Norway’s first female reigning monarch in over 600 years. Norway’s last female head of state was Queen Margaret, who ruled from 1388 to 1412.
Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra is one of many female heirs in Europe, and she has a close bond with several of her fellow future queens. In fact, it was previously revealed that she’s in a WhatsApp group chat with Princess Elisabeth of Belgium and Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands. Now that King Haakon has taken the throne, all three are heir apparent in their respective countries,
“We’ve known each other for a long time and see each other occasionally at events,” Princess Elisabeth said in a recent interview.
“In my generation, there are several women. You see a similar shift in other monarchies,” she added. “We are all in the same situation. It’s a hurdle we will face together.”
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Ingrid Alexandra is currently a student, and she recently began a new semester at the University of Oslo as a transfer student. She returned home from Australia — where she was in the midst of a three-year bachelor’s degree with a focus on international relations and political economy at the University of Sydney — earlier this year so she could be closer to home amid her mother’s health issues, including a lung transplant in June.
Lasting effects from the operation prevented the new Queen from attending the swearing-in ceremony on Sept. 1. A pulmonologist from the National Hospital said in a statement, “It is not uncommon for complications to occur after a lung transplant. The Queen has had complications on some occasions since the operation, including today. As a result, the Queen must be observed throughout the day. The Queen will therefore unfortunately not be able to attend the swearing-in ceremony in the Storting today.”
Queen Mette-Marit was diagnosed with chronic pulmonary fibrosis in 2018, an incurable lung condition which led to her wearing a nasal cannula, or oxygen breathing tube, for some public appearances before her transplant.
Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra has been at multiple events honoring her grandfather since his death on Aug. 28. King Harald’s state funeral will be held on Sept. 9.
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