PHOTO FEATURE: It’s not easy to receive guests in the middle of a crisis, but Norway’s royal family may well have received some sympathy and support from their Belgian counterparts this week. And after rainy and windy weather in Oslo, the Belgian royal couple ended their three-day state visit in sunshine in Stavanger.
The Belgian state visit highlighted not just royal ties but business and defense connections between Norway and Belgium as well. After traditional welcoming ceremonies in Oslo and mingling inside the Royal Palace, the Belgian royal couple was whisked off to more traditional ceremonies on the grounds of the Akershus Fortress.
Despite the cold and wet start, relations seemed warm among the royals. There was no lack of pomp and circumstance either, as the royal couple was driven around town in royal cars with Belgian flags and banners flying along their route.
Royal guards also lined the streets and the long driveway up to the Royal Palace in Oslo, where Norway’s King Harald and Queen Sonja had been waiting to receive their Belgian guests. Newspaper Aftenposten editorialized on Friday that their visit may have provided comfort for them after a long period of scandals with the Norwegian royal family.
It got worse just in the past few months, after it became known that Crown Princess Mette-Marit had been involved with the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. That news broke just before Mette-Marit’s son was arrested again and had to go through a seven-week trial on multiple criminal charges. In the midst of it all, the crown princess suffers from a chronic lung disease and just a few days before King Philippe and Queen Mathilde arrived, she finally agreed to answer some questions in a long-awaited 20-minute interview with state broadcaster NRK that left many disappointed.
“In such a difficult time, it’s possible the royals found comfort from their colleagues in Belgium,” editorialized Aftenposten. “The Belgian royal family has long experience with scandals.” King Leopold III, for example, was admonished after World War II for handing over land to Nazi Germany, and abdicated in 1951. “The Belgian royal family also has a bloody heritage from colonial times in Congo,” wrote Aftenposten, noting other more modern scandals as well.
“Despite all that, the Belgian monarchy has quite good support among the people,” the paper wrote, much like the Norwegian monarchy. Such good support can’t be taken for granted, Aftenposten warned, but royal family members can also seek support from one another.
After two days in the Norwegian capital, Crown Prince Haakon escorted King Philippe and Queen Mathilde to Stavanger, where they visited the Norwegian Oil Museum, were informed about Norway’s energy history and attended a business seminar on energy security, carbon capture and storage. That also led to the signing of a bilateral agreement between Norway and Belgium involving transport of CO2 in pipes from Belgium to storage on the Norwegian continental shelf.
Then came the defense cooperation aspects of the royal visit, when it concluded at the Sola air base outside Stavanger. They were treated to a demonstration of Norway’s air defense system known as NASAMS, shown a search and rescue helicopter, introduced to some Norwegian defense officials and met soldiers stationed in the area.
Crown Prince Haakon had already stressed in an earlier speech the importance of “working together to secure respect for the Rule of Law.” He noted that Belgium and Norway also share a strong obligation to help maintain international order, reduce human suffering and build peace “for our common future.”
The Belgian royals left Norway Thursday afternoon, before it started raining again as Norwegians started heading off themselves on Easter holidays.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.newsinenglish.no ’
