As the eldest daughter of Norway's late King Olav, Princess Ragnhild once held a central role in the country's monarchy. Ships have been named after her, she's been a fixture at most royal events and she endured a strict, tradition-bound life as a royal herself.
Now, at age 73, she's spoken out in a TV2 documentary peppered with harsh assessments of today's royals in Norway. She's lived in Brazil for the past 50 years, and clearly has been watching the royal family from afar with no small amount of dissatisfaction.
Asked whether she ponders the future of the monarchy, she said she does. "I'm not worried for myself, but for Norway, yes," she said. "I hope I die before that happens. I really hope so."
She made it clear she does not admire Crown Prince Haakon or his sister, Princess Martha Louise, and said she thinks they've had "poor advisers." She absolutely does not approve of their spousal choices, the former single mother from Kristiansand, Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoeiby, and Bohemian author Ari Behn.
Are they negative for the monarchy? "Yes, that I'm certain of," she said.
"If my father had lived a bit longer, everything would have been very different," she claimed.
King Olav wouldn't have allowed the marriages? "No, I don't think so," she said.
'Feels sorry' for Marius
Princess Ragnhild said she also feels "terribly sorry for that son she (now-Crown Princess Mette-Marit) has." Once the couple had a new child who's a royal heir, she claimed, "poor Marius is nothing. He is six (now seven) years old, but will understand that there's a difference. And that will give them (Haakon and Mette-Marit) problems. I hope they have thought about that."
Princess Ragnhild suggested that she was nearly forced to leave the country when she married a commoner herself in 1953. "I'm not really sure, but I think it was such that if we moved (to Brazil) we'd be allowed to marry," she said. Today she has three children and four grandchildren of her own.
She said it was difficult to move to a new country, where she didn't know anyone and couldn't understand the language. But she said it was a relief to be able to live as a normal person.
She maintained contact with her father through weekly letters, but she burned all those she received from King Olav a few years ago.
Both Princess Ragnhild and her husband have been in Norway recently, but Erling Lorentzen flew back to Brazil on Monday after trying to get TV2 to edit his wife's remarks. The princess, who reportedly remains in Norway for a while longer, said she stands by her comments in the TV2 documentary and stressed that she's made similar comments before.
