Harald and Sonja news

[Larzen]

I cant imagine the PM telling him that, but I do think he will figure that out by himself🫣 He has never liked fuss about his own person (thats why he has only celebrated his birthday when he has to (round number) and otherwise preffer to go abroad) . Now his private vacation has been the top news for a week, I doubt we will see it again. However has he become sick in Italy the  fuss would have been the same, the flight home a bit shorter though. Its some criticism in some papers, but not really by anyone who matters. I very much doubt it will impact his popularity in any serious way.

[Miss Marple]

It will be forgotten soon - well, his only "crime" was to become sick on the holiday. Otherwise it would have gone rather unnoticed. Other than that he is doing a great job. And ... it was a holiday, his wish to go somewhere private and warm that brought them there.

Unlike some other royals we know they didn't buy a massive house in Africa or travel during travel restriction. So this is s way more harmless league. He might have felt fitter than he was.

[loveofenglishtradition]

News about King Harald's health. Hopefully everything will go well...

https://www.royalcourt.no...tid=225495&sek=113027

[Maria]

That sounds quite serious.

[Larzen]

Bjørn Bendz is one of the best kardiologists in Norway, his collegues says the King will probably have a permanent pacemaker when he returnes. The experts seem quite chill about this, but the need fir this medevac plane seems clear

[ralf103]

Sounds very serious - though I'm sure he is the best hands and its not uncommon a procedure -  but more than the infection I thought it was.

[genegal43]

Hope he gets well soon.

[Larzen]

The King and queen are on their way home and will land at midnight. Then the King will be admitted to rigshospitalet and have a sickleave of two weeks.

https://www.vg.no/rampely...arald-skal-hjem-til-norge

Haakon will be regent and take over the constitutional program. So between the 4th and 15th he has 14 events including travels to Bergen and a military exercise in the north for two days, his wife has two events and the queen one, in addition i guess both women will be in Holmenkollen 9-10 march.

If this pattern continues this pretty much makes the monarchy a one man show for years until Ingrid has finnished her studies which she has not even started, quite wounerable if something should happen to Haakon.

[ralf103]

Hmm interesting how they said he would return "in a few days" on Saturday then he flies out on Sunday. In some countries, like here in the UK, that would see the Palace accused of misleading the public but it does seem the Norwegian media and public are more relaxed about such things. I saw that there was criticism of the media for "focussing on" the cost of the flights to return the King home- again something that would just be considered normal here. Interesting how different each country is in that regard. No wonder I sometimes think the way "other" (as in not those here in the UK) communication teams deal with the media is odd.

I'm glad Harald is on his way home and that he is well enough to travel. Two weeks off doesn't seem all that long really so I guess they must be confident he is going to be okay.

[Larzen]

King Harald is trending on the app flight radar, today there are 10.000 people who follows his flight home, no other flight has more followers

https://www.nrk.no/nyhete...agt-pa-sykehus-1.15175208

Running out of things to write about

The plane has refuled in the Emirates and are now scheduled for Oslo (Gardermoen) at 22.17 norwegian time.

[Lady Liebe]

I suspect his new pacemaker was doing its job properly and so they took off for home asap. While I am sure there are smaller medivac planes, he does have long haul flight home, and this will require fewer stops.

I hope everything checks out at the hospital in Norway and that he has an uneventful recovery period at home.

I used to worry about QEII's health. Now I worry about Harald.

[pocahontas]

Thats about £150,000 / €174,000. That is alot and makes me wonder whether quietly behind the scenes there may be pressure for such holidays to be reigned in from now on.

Harald and Sonja deserve a nice break, of course they do, but maybe somewhere a little closer to home next time.

Medical evacuation can be very expensive especially from far away places. EUR 174K is typical. That could bankrupt an ordinary person. That's why they tell you  to get travel insurance when you travel.

As privileged as they already are, royals should be able to take private holidays. They live so much of their lives publicly that it's probably mentally taxing.
And H&S intend for their private holidays to be private. They don't alert the paps, etc. The heart situation was an unfortunate turn of events.

However, given H's health struggles in recent years, he shouldn't be traveling far from home anymore. Sure, he must think he's still mentally young, but his body is otherwise.

[Miss Marple]

I spent one summer in Norway and honstely, I wanted warm ... It was rather chilly the whole summer, so I get his longing for sun and warm.
His travel time might come to an end, at least the travelling outside Europe.

[Emac0914]

King Harald is trending on the app flight radar, today there are 10.000 people who follows his flight home, no other flight has more followers

https://www.nrk.no/nyhete...agt-pa-sykehus-1.15175208

Running out of things to write about

The plane has refuled in the Emirates and are now scheduled for Oslo (Gardermoen) at 22.17 norwegian time.

I love this - says a lot about the man that so many people are following his flight home.  I hope they take good care of this 86 year old king 👑 and he is resting comfortably.

[ralf103]

I hope he stills gets to holiday because god knows he deserves to but maybe Italy or the South of France for some warmer winter weather rather than the 15+hours it is Norway to Malaysia.