Princess Ragnhild, Mrs. Lorentzen | |||||
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Born |
Royal Palace,Oslo, Norway |
9 June 1930||||
Died | 16 September 2012 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
(aged 82)||||
Burial | 28 September 2012 Asker Church, Norway |
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Spouse | Erling Lorentzen (m. 1953–2012) |
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Issue | Haakon Lorentzen Ingeborg Lorentzen Ragnhild Lorentzen |
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House | Glücksburg | ||||
Father | Olav V of Norway | ||||
Mother | Princess Märtha of Sweden |
Full name | |
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Ragnhild Alexandra |
Styles of Princess Ragnhild of Norway |
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Reference style | Her Highness |
Spoken style | Your Highness |
Alternative style | Ma'am |
Princess Ragnhild, Mrs. Lorentzen (Ragnhild Alexandra; 9 June 1930 – 16 September 2012) was the eldest child of King Olav V of Norway and Princess Märtha of Sweden. She was the older sister of King Harald V and Princess Astrid.
Princess Ragnhild was the first Norwegian princess born on Norwegian soil for 629 years. She grew up at the royal residence of Skaugum near Asker, west of Oslo. She was christened in the Palace Chapel on 27 June 1930 and her godparents were: her paternal grandparents, The King and Queen of Norway; her maternal grandparents, The Duke and Duchess of Västergötland; her granduncle, The King of Sweden; her grandaunt, Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom; her maternal aunt, Princess Margrethe of Denmark; and The Duke of York.
During World War II, she fled the German invasion of Norway with her family in 1940, spending the wartime years in exile with her mother and siblings in Washington, D.C.. Before the birth of her younger brother, it was assumed she would accede to the throne in the absence of a male heir, although this would have required a constitutional amendment, as women could not inherit the throne at the time.
She opened the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, as her father and grandfather were attending the funeral of King George VI.