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Olav V

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Olav V
Official portrait, 1957
Official portrait, 1957
King of Norway
Reign 21 September 1957 – 17 January 1991
Benediction[1] 22 June 1958
Predecessor Haakon VII
Successor Harald V
Regent Harald (1990–1991)
Regent of Norway
Regency 1 July 1955 – 21 September 1957
Monarch Haakon VII
Born Prince Alexander Edward Christian Frederik of Denmark
2 July 1903
Appleton House, Sandringham, England
Died 17 January 1991 (aged 87)
The Royal Lodge, Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway
Burial 30 January 1991
Akershus Castle, Oslo
Spouse Märtha of Sweden
(m. 1929; died 1954)
Issue Princess Ragnhild, Mrs. Lorentzen
Princess Astrid, Mrs. Ferner
Harald V
House Glücksburg
Father Haakon VII
Mother Maud of Wales
Religion Church of Norway
Sports career
Medal record
Sailing
Representing Norway
Olympic Games
1928 Amsterdam
6 m mixed
5.5 Metre World Championship
1971 Seawanhaka
5.5m
1976 Hankø
5.5m

Olav V (Norwegian: Olav den femte, Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈûːlɑːv dɛn ˈfɛ̂mtə];[2] born Prince Alexander of Denmark; 2 July 1903 – 17 January 1991) was King of Norway from 1957 until his death in 1991.

Olav was born at Sandringham House in England, the only child of Prince Carl of Denmark and Princess Maud of Wales. He became heir apparent to the Norwegian throne when his father was elected King Haakon VII of Norway in 1905. He was the first heir to the Norwegian throne to be brought up in Norway since Olav IV in the 14th century, and his parents made sure that he was given as Norwegian an upbringing as possible. In preparation for his future role, he attended both civilian and military schools. In 1929, he married his first cousin, Princess Märtha of Sweden. During World War II, his leadership was much appreciated, and he was appointed Norwegian Chief of Defence in 1944. Olav became king following the death of his father in 1957.

His considerate, down-to-earth style made Olav immensely popular, resulting in the nickname Folkekongen ('The People's King'). In a 2005 poll by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, Olav was voted "Norwegian of the Century".[3]

Birth and early life

Olav was born on 2 July 1903[4] as Prince Alexander Edward Christian Frederik in Appleton House on the royal Sandringham Estate, Flitcham, United Kingdom.[5] His parents were Prince Carl, second son of Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark (later King Frederick VIII), and Princess Maud, youngest daughter of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, who was the eldest son of Britain's Queen Victoria. He was baptised on 11 August 1903 at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham, by Canon Frederick Hervey, domestic chaplain to his grandfather, King Edward VII, and rector of Sandringham.[6] His godparents were: his maternal grandparents, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra; his paternal grandparents, Crown Prince Frederick and Crown Princess Louise; his great-grandfather, King Christian IX of Denmark; his maternal uncle, George, Prince of Wales; and his maternal aunt, Princess Victoria.[6]

In 1905, Carl was elected as Norway's first independent king in 518 years. The fact that Carl already had a son gave him an advantage over the other candidates, as it assured the continuance of the new royal line.[7] When Carl accepted his election, he took the name Haakon VII. The king gave his two-year-old son the Norwegian name Olav after Olav Haakonsson, the last independent king of Norway before its union with Denmark.[8] It was also chosen in honour of Saint Olaf, the first effective king of Norway and a symbol of Norwegian independence and pride.[9]

Olav was thus the first heir to the throne since the Middle Ages to have been raised in Norway, and his parents went to considerable length to give him as Norwegian an upbringing as possible. Having been baptised in the Church of England, he was confirmed in the evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway on 1 December 1918 at Slottskapellet.[10][11]

Unlike his father, who was a naval officer, Olav chose to complete his main military education in the army. He graduated from the three-year Norwegian Military Academy in 1924, with the fourth-best score in his class. Olav then studied jurisprudence and economics for two years at Balliol College, Oxford.[12]

During the 1930s, Crown Prince Olav was a naval cadet serving on the minelayer/cadet training ship Olav Tryggvason.[13] Olav moved up the ranks of the Norwegian armed forces in the army from an initial rank of first lieutenant to captain in 1931 and colonel in 1936.[14]

He was an accomplished athlete. Olav jumped from the Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo and competed in sailing regattas. He won a gold medal in sailing at the 1928 Summer Olympics[15] in Amsterdam and remained an active sailor into old age.

On 21 March 1929 in Oslo, he married his first cousin Princess Märtha of Sweden with whom he had two daughters, Ragnhild and Astrid, and one son, Harald. As exiles during World War II, Crown Princess Märtha and the royal children lived in Washington, DC, where she struck up a close friendship with Franklin Roosevelt. She died in 1954, before her husband ascended the throne.

The British Film Institute houses an early film, made in 1913, in which a miniature car (a "baby Cadillac") commissioned by Queen Alexandra for Crown Prince Olav tows a procession of Londoners through the streets of the capital, before being delivered to a pair of "royal testers" of roughly Olav's age.[16] The car is a battery-powered, one-third size replica on a four-foot wheelbase, and is on permanent loan to the Norsk Teknisk Museum in Oslo.[17]

World War II

As Crown Prince, Olav had received extensive military training and had participated in most major Norwegian military exercises. That made him perhaps one of the most knowledgeable Norwegian military leaders, and he was respected by other Allied leaders for his knowledge and leadership skills. During a visit to the United States before the war, he and his wife had established a close relationship with President Roosevelt. Those factors would prove to be important for the Norwegian fight against the attacking German forces. In 1939, Crown Prince Olav was appointed an admiral of the Royal Norwegian Navy and a general of the Norwegian Army.[14]

During World War II, Olav stood by his father's side in resisting the German occupation of Norway. During the campaign he was a valuable advisor both to civilian and military leaders. When the Norwegian government decided to go into exile, he offered to stay behind with the Norwegian people, but that was declined. He reluctantly followed his father to the United Kingdom, where he and his staff and servants and aides continued to be a key advisor to the government-in-exile and his father. One source states that Olav helped "to build and lead a free fighting force" and made radio broadcasts in England.[18]

Olav made several visits to Norwegian and Allied troops in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. In 1944, he was appointed to the post of Norwegian Chief of Defence and after the war he led the Norwegian disarmament of the German occupying forces. On 13 May 1945, Crown Prince Olav and five government ministers returned to a liberated Norway. The arrival was documented in a newsreel by British Pathé News.[19]

His war decorations from other nations, including the War Crosses of Norway, France, Greece and the Netherlands; the US Legion of Merit; and the French Médaille Militaire, are testament to the international recognition of his contribution to the war against Nazi Germany.

Reign

Haakon was injured in an accident in 1955; his son Olav served as regent until his death.[20] Haakon died at the Royal Palace in Oslo on 21 September 1957. He was 85 years old. After his death, Olav succeeded him as Olav V.

Olav reigned as a "People's King," and became extremely popular, despite the fact that he had no queen consort (his wife, Märtha of Sweden, died in 1954). He liked to drive his own cars and would drive in the public lane even though, as king, he was allowed to drive in bus lanes. When driving was restricted during the 1973 energy crisis, King Olav wanted to lead by example even though he would have been well within his rights to drive. While going on a skiing trip, he dressed up in his skiing outfit and boarded the Holmenkollbanen suburban railway carrying his skis on his shoulder.[21] When later asked how he dared to go out in public without bodyguards, he replied that "he had 4 million bodyguards", the population of Norway at the time.

For his athletic ability and role as King, Olav earned the Holmenkollen medal in 1968, the Medal for Outstanding Civic Achievement in 1970 and was made Name of the Year in 1975. He had a strong interest in military matters and took his role as titular Commander-in-Chief very seriously. As well as his ceremonial roles in the Norwegian Army, he also served as Colonel-in-Chief of the Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Yorkshire Regiment), the British regiment named for his grandmother Queen Alexandra.

The King represented Norway extensively abroad during his reign, conducting state visits to both neighbouring countries and more distant destinations such as Ethiopia and Iran. King Olav V opened the 14th World Scout Jamboree in July 1975 in the presence of 17,259 Scouts from 94 countries.

Although the constitution nominally vested Olav with executive power, he was not responsible for exercising it. In practice, his role was almost entirely ceremonial and representative.[20] This not only followed practices dating from the definitive establishment of parliamentary rule in Norway in 1884, but also precedent set by his father. His acts were not valid without the countersignature of a minister–usually the Prime Minister–who then became politically responsible for the act in question. While he had the right to appoint the government, in practice it was impossible for him to appoint a government solely of his choosing or keep it in office against the will of the Storting. Nonetheless, like his father before him, he commanded great moral authority as a symbol of the nation's unity.

Illness and death

During the summer of 1990, Olav suffered from health problems, but recovered somewhat during Christmas the same year. On 17 January 1991, he suffered a heart attack and died at his residence in the Royal Lodge Kongsseteren in Oslo. An interview given by his son Harald and hints in a biography by Jo Benkow, who was the President of the Storting at that time, mention the possibility that King Olav suffered great trauma upon learning of the outbreak of Operation Desert Storm, which began on the day he died. Harald succeeded him as king.

On the night of his death and for several days up until the state funeral, Norwegians mourned publicly, lighting hundreds of thousands of candles in the courtyard outside the Royal Palace in Oslo, with letters and cards placed amongst them.[22] The National Archives have preserved all these cards.

Funeral

The state funeral of King Olav V was held on 30 January 1991. During the funeral procession from the Royal Palace to Oslo Cathedral, more than 100,000 people lined up along Karl Johans gate to pay their respects.[23] Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland gave the eulogy at the funeral, before the casket was moved to Akershus Fortress where a private service was held.[24]

Olav was finally laid to rest next to his wife Märtha in the green sarcophagus of the Royal Mausoleum.[25]

Legacy

King Olav's leadership during the Second World War made him a symbol of Norwegian independence and national unity. As King Olav's wife, Princess Märtha, died of cancer, the King Olav V's Prize for Cancer Research was established in 1992.

A 2005 poll by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation named King Olav "Norwegian of the Century".[3]

Viktor Andersen portrayed the two-year-old Prince Alexander (Olav) in the 2009 NRK drama series Harry & Charles. Actor Anders Baasmo Christiansen was chosen to portray Crown Prince Olav in the 2016 drama The King's Choice while Tobias Santelmann portrayed Olav in the 2021 NRK drama Atlantic Crossing. In the period drama The Commoner, which premiered in 2025 on Amazon Prime Video, Anders Baasmo Christiansen again portrayed Olav, this time during his reign as King of Norway.

Honours

National honours and medals

Foreign honours

Other honours

Issue

Name Birth Death Marriage Children
Princess Ragnhild 9 June 1930 16 September 2012 Erling Lorentzen (m. 1953) Haakon Lorentzen (b. 1954)
Ingeborg Lorentzen Ribeiro (b. 1957)
Ragnhild Lorentzen Long (b. 1968)
Princess Astrid 12 February 1932 Johan Ferner (m. 1961; died 2015) Cathrine Ferner Johansen (b. 1962)
Benedikte Ferner Stange (b. 1963)
Alexander Ferner (b. 1965)
Elisabeth Ferner Beckmann (b. 1969)
Carl-Christian Ferner (b. 1972)
Harald V 21 February 1937 28 August 2026 Sonja Haraldsen (m. 1968) Princess Märtha Louise (b. 1971)
Haakon VIII (b. 1973)

See also

References

  1. Back to citation Coronation became optional by a constitutional amendment in 1908. Olav V instead received benediction in Nidaros Cathedral.
  2. Back to citation Berulfsen, Bjarne (1969). Norsk Uttaleordbok (in Norwegian). Oslo: H. Aschehoug & Co (W Nygaard). pp. 64, 91, 232.
  3. Back to citation occurrence 3.0 Back to citation occurrence 3.1 "Folkekongen ble århundrets nordmann". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). 17 December 2005. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  4. Back to citation "Notice de personne: Olav V (1903-1991; roi de Norvège)". Bibliothèque Nationale de France (in French). 16 December 2017. Retrieved 6 September 2025.
  5. Back to citation Sandelson, Michael (28 October 2011). "Norway's Queen Maud in euthanasia speculations". The Foreigner. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
  6. Back to citation occurrence 6.0 Back to citation occurrence 6.1 "Court Circular". The Daily Telegraph. 12 August 1903. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  7. Back to citation Berg, Roald (1995). Norge på egen hånd 1905–1920 (Norsk utenrikspolitikks historie, volume 2) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. p. 309. ISBN 8200223949.
  8. Back to citation "Olav to Martha". Time Magazine. 21 January 1929. Archived from the original on 10 February 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2009.
  9. Back to citation The Times Obituaries..., Lives Remembered. Blewbury Press. 1991. ISBN 978-0-9518282-0-5.
  10. Back to citation "Olav 5". Store Norske Leksikon (in Norwegian). Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  11. Back to citation "An English Princess Revisits Us". Liverpool Daily Post. 16 December 1918. p. 3.
  12. Back to citation Benkow 1991, pp. 97–108.
  13. Back to citation Bratli & Schau 1995, p. 93.
  14. Back to citation occurrence 14.0 Back to citation occurrence 14.1 Dahl 1982, p. 48.
  15. Back to citation Flint 1991.
  16. Back to citation F.S. Bennett (Director) (1913). The Smallest Car in the Largest City in the World (motion picture). London, England: British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 7 November 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2017 – via YouTube.
  17. Back to citation Morton, Ian (30 August 2003). "Right Royal Fun in a Baby Cadillac". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  18. Back to citation "The Real Historical People of the New Drama 'Atlantic Crossing'". WTTW, PBS. 6 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
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  22. Back to citation "Tronskiftet 1991". kongehuset.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  23. Back to citation Pedersen, Pål Fredrik; Miljeteig, Margrethe. "I dag er det 25 år siden kong Olav døde". TV 2 (in Norwegian). Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  24. Back to citation Berge, Jørgen. "Gro: - Jeg hadde et nært forhold til kong Olav". Nettavisen (in Norwegian). Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  25. Back to citation Dahlmann, L. A. "The secret journey of Queen Maud's coffin | norwegianhistory.no". Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
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Bibliography

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