Norway Applauds Haakon's Wedding
By Doug Mellgren
The Associated Press
OSLO, Norway - She's a modern Cinderella. A pretty, single working mother from an ordinary family who was swept off her feet by a prince and into the royal household as Norway's future queen. And Norwegians love it. When Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby said "Ja," or yes, to Crown Prince Haakon at the Oslo Cathedral on Saturday, the ringing cheers of thousands gathered outside to watch on wide-screen TV echoed through the church. Some in the crowd wept with joy. "I think she is wonderful. They are a royal couple for our generation," said 21-year-old Ingeborg Theimann, one of more than 100,000 mostly young Norwegians who turned out to cheer the wedding procession through downtown Oslo. Many Norwegians were doubtful when Haakon announced he was dating Hoiby and that they were moving in together 15 months ago. Even though single-motherhood and cohabitation are commonplace in liberal Norway, older Norwegians were troubled by the idea of a single mom someday being their queen. For others, dark hints in the news media that Hoiby had been involved with drugs years ago raised questions. The father of her 4-year-old son has been convicted of narcotics possession. The popularity of the figurehead monarchy, which dates to Norway's independence from Sweden in 1905, began slipping in opinion polls until, days before her wedding, now Crown Princess Mette-Marit faced the media. Fighting back tears, she acknowledged her "wild" youth and apologized. That courage and honesty touched Norwegians. Her popularity instantly rose in polls. And with one-quarter of Oslo's population of 500,000 turning out to cheer the royal couple - plus much of the rest of the country watching on television - she seemed forgiven. Lutheran Bishop Gunnar Staalsett seemed to speak for the country when he said in his wedding sermon: "Mette-Marit, you show courage and faith when you say 'yes' to such a strange future. You are starting a new chapter with a clean slate." About 800 guests, including princes, princesses and a smattering of kings and queens, attended the hour-long ceremony. It was Norway's first royal wedding in 33 years. When Haakon's father King Harald V, as crown prince, married Queen Sonja it also caused a stir because she was born the commoner Sonja Haraldsen, daughter of a businessperson. But Norwegians embraced that couple as well, cheering with equal vigor in 1968. "Some people were skeptical about Mette-Marit but it was the same when the King married Sonja in 1968," said Heine Larsen, a 24-year-old student who came to watch the wedding procession. When the newlyweds returned to the Royal Palace, thousands cheered them again as they waved and kissed in plain view on a balcony. After the first kiss, the crowd roared "one more time" as the crown princess held her son on one arm. Overhead, a formation of four screaming Norwegian Air Force fighters passed low and in formation over the palace. After the wedding banquet, fireworks and a ball, the couple were slipping away early Sunday on their honeymoon.
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