Olav V (Norwegian:Olav den femte,Norwegian pronunciation:[ˈûːlɑːvdɛnˈfɛ̂mtə];[1] bornPrince Alexander of Denmark; 2 July 1903 – 17 January 1991) wasKing of Norway from 1957 until his death in 1991.
Olav was born atSandringham House in England, the only child ofPrince Carl of Denmark andPrincess Maud of Wales. He becameheir apparent to the Norwegian throne when his father was electedKing Haakon VII of Norway in 1905. He was the first heir to the Norwegian throne to be brought up in Norway sinceOlav 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. DuringWorld War II, his leadership was much appreciated, and he was appointedNorwegian Chief of Defence in 1944. Olav became king following the death of his father in 1957.
Olav was thus the first heir to the throne since theMiddle Ages to have been raised in Norway. Unlike his father, who was a naval officer, Olav chose to complete his main military education in the army. He graduated from the three-yearNorwegian Military Academy in 1924, with the fourth-best score in his class. Olav then went on to study jurisprudence and economics for two years atBalliol College, Oxford.[5]
During the 1930s, Crown Prince Olav was a naval cadet serving on the minelayer/cadet training shipOlav Tryggvason.[6] 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.[7]
He was an accomplished athlete. Olav jumped from theHolmenkollen ski jump in Oslo and competed in sailing regattas. He won a gold medal in sailing at the1928 Summer Olympics[8] inAmsterdam and remained an active sailor into old age.
On 21 March 1929 in Oslo, he married his first cousinPrincess Märtha of Sweden with whom he had two daughters,Ragnhild andAstrid and one son,Harald. As exiles duringWorld War II, Crown Princess Märtha and the royal children lived inWashington, DC, where she struck up a close friendship withFranklin 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.[9] The car is a battery-powered, one-third size replica on a four-foot wheelbase, and is on permanent loan to theNorsk Teknisk Museum in Oslo.[10]
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,[citation needed] 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 theattacking German forces. In 1939, Crown Prince Olav was appointed an admiral of theRoyal Norwegian Navy and a general of theNorwegian Army.[7]
DuringWorld War II, Olav stood by his father's side in resisting theGerman 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 theUnited 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.[11]
Olav inspecting Norwegian sailors in the United Kingdom
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 ofNorwegian 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 BritishPathé News.[12]
His war decorations from other nations, including theWar Crosses of Norway, France, Greece and the Netherlands; the USLegion of Merit; and the FrenchMédaille Militaire, are testament to the international recognition of his contribution to the war againstHitler.
Crown Prince Olav andCrown Princess Märtha with their children Princess Astrid, Princess Ragnhild and Prince Harald at their exile home,Pook's Hill, inBethesda, Maryland
Haakon was injured in an accident in 1955; his son Olav served as regent until his death.[13] Haakon died at theRoyal 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 noqueen 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 a monarch, he was allowed to drive in bus lanes. When driving was restricted during the1973 energy crisis, King Olav, who could have driven legally, wanted to lead by example; while preparing for a skiing trip, he dressed up in his skiing outfit and boarded theHolmenkollbanensuburban railway carrying his skis on his shoulder.[14] 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.
The King represented Norway extensively abroad during his reign, conductingstate visits to both neighbouring countries and more distant destinations such asEthiopia andIran. King Olav V opened the14th 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. One source states that his "duties were largely ceremonial".[13] His acts were not valid without the countersignature of a minister–usually thePrime Minister–who then became politically responsible for the act in question. He had the right to appoint the government, but in practice it was not possible for him to keep a government in office against the will of theStorting. Thus, in practice, his role was mostly representative in nature. Nonetheless, like his father before him, he commanded greatmoral authority as a symbol of the nation's unity.
During the summer of 1990, the King suffered from health problems, but recovered somewhat during Christmas the same year. At the age of 87, on 17 January 1991, while residing in the Royal LodgeKongsseteren inOslo, he became ill and died in the evening of aheart attack. An interview given by KingHarald V and hints in a biography byJo Benkow, who was thePresident of the Storting at that time, mention the possibility that King Olav suffered greattrauma upon learning of the outbreak of the firstGulf War,[citation needed] which began on the day he died. Olav's son succeeded him asKing Harald V.
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 thecourtyard outside theRoyal Palace in Oslo, with letters and cards placed amongst them.[15] The National Archives have preserved all these cards.
The state funeral of King Olav V was held on 30 January 1991. During the funeral procession from theRoyal Palace toOslo Cathedral, over 100,000 people lined up alongKarl Johans gate to pay their respects.[16] Prime MinisterGro Harlem Brundtland gave the eulogy at the funeral, before the casket was moved toAkershus Fortress where a private service was held.[17]
Olav was finally laid to rest next to his wifeMärtha in the green sarcophagus of theRoyal Mausoleum.[18]
^abcdefBille-Hansen, A. C.; Holck, Harald, eds. (1963) [1st pub.:1801].Statshaandbog for Kongeriget Danmark for Aaret 1963 [State Manual of the Kingdom of Denmark for the Year 1963](PDF). Kongelig Dansk Hof- og Statskalender (in Danish). Copenhagen: J.H. Schultz A.-S. Universitetsbogtrykkeri. pp. 18, 20. Retrieved7 July 2020 – viada:DIS Danmark.
Benkow, Jo (1991).Olav – menneske og monark (in Norwegian) (3rd ed.). Oslo: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag.ISBN82-05-20192-7.
Bramsen, Bo (1992).Huset Glücksborg. Europas svigerfader og hans efterslægt [The House of Glücksburg. The Father-in-law of Europe and his descendants] (in Danish) (2nd ed.). Copenhagen: Forlaget Forum.ISBN87-553-1843-6.
Lerche, Anna; Mandal, Marcus (2003).A royal family : the story of Christian IX and his European descendants. Copenhagen: Aschehoug.ISBN9788715109577.
Suits, Julia (2011).The Extraordinary Catalog of Peculiar Inventions: The Curious World of the Demoulin Brothers and Their Fraternal Lodge Prank Machi nes - from Human Centipedes and Revolving Goats to ElectricCarpets and SmokingC. Penguin Publishing Group. p. 53.ISBN978-1-101-54576-8.
1 Also prince of Norway 2 Also prince of Greece 3 Also prince of Iceland 4 Also prince of the United Kingdom 5 Not Danish prince by birth, but created prince of Denmark Princes that lost their title are shown in italics
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