"For me, the paternity issue is a closed subject in my authorship," Bomann-Larsen told newspaper Aftenposten on Monday, adding that it's time to move on with the third book in his series on Norway's royal history.
Bomann-Larsen caused a stir late last year when he wrote that Denmark's Princess Maud, the former English princess who later became Queen Maud of Norway, may have been artificially inseminated in London by her doctor, Sir Francis Laking. Princess Maud was married to Prince Carl of Denmark, who later was selected to be Norway's King Haakon when the newly independent nation established its own monarchy in 1905.
Princess Maud and Prince Carl had been childless for several years before their son, who later became Crown Prince and then King Olav of Norway, was born in 1903. Artificial insemination was rare in those days, but Bomann-Larsen wrote that it was possible, and that Maud may have been injected with sperm from her doctor.
Bomann-Larsen told Aftenposten that he doesn't feel any further need to document his theory, arguing now that Olav was born to a married couple and certainly grew up as King Haakon's son. He notes that his book dealt with the years 1896 to 1905, "and as a biographer, it was my responsibility to present information around the birth (of Olav)."
Bomann-Larsen's theory has since been widely debated, but Norway's current royal family doesn't appear to have any hard feelings. The author is among invited guests at this week's latest round of centennial festivities in Copenhagen, where Bomann-Larsen will meet King Harald, the son of the late King Olav. King Harald earlier had helped Bomann-Larsen gain unprecedented access to royal archives both in Norway and abroad.
Bomann-Larsen, meanwhile, is now at work on the follow-up to his controversial book Folket (The People), which will cover the years after 1905, in which he says "new problems and issues will be described." It's due to be released in the fall of 2007.
