Speech, Debate | Let’s reintroduce the coronation in Norway

Reader’s letter This is a debate entry, written by an external contributor. The post expresses the writer’s views.

It’s strange to live in an ancient monarchy with roots dating back to about 890 without us having some sort of coronation ceremony for our head of state.

In 1163, Norway had its first coronation, it was HM King Magnus Erlingsson who was crowned King of Norway. He was the grandson of HM King Sigurd Jorsalfar.

The tradition has been with us ever since, right up until 1908 when a republican Storting removed the section from the Constitution because they thought it was “undemocratic and obsolete”. But is coronation of the monarch about democracy? Isn’t it mostly about formality, tradition, culture and folk festivals, four things that Norway is known for and not least something we are happy about?

A signing is a coronation without a crown being placed on the head. In 1957 HM King Olav was signed in Nidaros Cathedral. From 1163, signing traditionally took place at the same time as the coronation. We can say that today’s signing is the coronation of the monarch without the crown being placed on the head, but it is present.

The same thing happened in 1991 when our current royal couple was signed. Both the king’s and queen’s crowns were present, but they were not used.

A modern coronation would have looked more like the signing from 1991, only that the royal regalia were used physically, instead of being symbols lying on a pillow during the ceremony.

A modern coronation would not have been as it happens in e.g. Great Britain, but more of a folk party. A kind of “good luck” from the people to our new royal couple.

A coronation involves a lot of symbolism for the royal house and monarchy

A coronation is a solemn ceremony in the cathedral, where the king receives a blessing from God. The crown is placed on the head of the head of the country, who has always been a man, because women did not have the right of inheritance to the throne until §6 of the Constitution was amended in 1990.

Ours were made on the occasion of the coronation of HM King Karl III Johan of Sweden-Norway in 1818. They have been used at four coronations/signings.

In conclusion, I think Norway should be economically strong enough to reintroduce coronation. The ceremonial, solemn recognition of the king’s importance to our democracy is great and deeply felt by the Norwegian people. Let’s reintroduce coronation in Norway!