Beard of the Week LII: The Crown Prince of Norway
This week's regal beard belongs to Norwegian Crown Prince Håkon Magnus (or, as frequently rendered, Haakon Magnus). Prince Håkon came to our attention thanks to Chris Ambidge, friend of this blog and BoW devotee; the photograph is originally by Sean Hayford O'Leary. Born in 1973, Håkon became crown prince when his father was crowned Harald V in 1991, King of Norway. When Håkon becomes king, he will be known as King Håkon VIII of Norway.
The Crown Prince created something of a sensation in 2001 when he married commoner Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby, whom I've seen described as the "love of his life"; I've also seen her described as a "single mother and former waitress", but then, people do love royal personages and hints of scandal, but it seems that the crown princess (she was given the title sometime after the marriage) is pretty popular with the people of Norway. They were both 28 at the time of their wedding in Oslo cathedral, which is said to have been attended by half the population of that city. In 2005 the couple had their first child together, a boy to be known as Sverre Magnus.
The photograph of the Crown Prince was taken when he was at St. Olaf College, a small, liberal-arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. This was in 2005, when he attended an event (you can see the famous St. Olaf Choir standing behind him) and made a short speech in Boe Memorial Chapel. Here are a couple of paragraphs in which he coincidentally refers to President Lula da Silva of Brazil, who was last week's BoW.
Peace concerns us all, and it must be made real in the daily existence of every individual. Peace must be sought, because every member of the human family deserves to live a life of dignity and security. We all have a responsibility to bring about these ideas. As John F. Kennedy said, "There is no single, simple key to peace. It must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each new generation".
Fighting poverty is undoubtedly one of the greatest global challenges today, if not the greatest. The profound gap between the rich and the poor is making the world insecure. In addition to that, of course it is an ethical question. We cannot sit patiently while we see people living in despair and poverty. President Lula da Silva of Brazil says: "The path to lasting peace must encompass a new political and economic international order, one that extends to all countries real opportunities for economic and social development".
I also turned up another speech which Crown Prince Håkon gave to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council on June 3, 1999, called "Norway and the United States, an Enduring Relationship". It seems that he had been a student at UC Berkeley, which might explain the venue. His view on relations between Norway and the US I found interesting. One notes that his remarks came before the current US president moved into office.
For a video and audio glimpse of Crown Prince Håkon, in 2007, Tyler Brûlé of Monocle magazine did this interview of about 15 minutes, in English.