I must admit, I´m a bit tired of hearing about the Royal wedding in England.  Every time I turn on the news or the radio I hear something about what the kind of underwear Kate plans to wear or how down-to-earth, yet very classy she is.  I also don´t care much whether William has facial hair for his wedding or not!  However, I understand that many people who have no ties to England at all are very interested in this event.  Therefore, I thought it would be appropriate at this time to write a post about news on the Norwegian Royal Family.

For those of you who do plan to watch the Royal British wedding and follow some of the festivities, you will see Kong Harald and Dronning Sonja from Norway.  Only Royal monarchs were invited, so Prinsesse Märtha Louise and her husband Ari Behn and Kronprins Haakon and his wife Kronprinsesse Mette-Marit will not be attending.  Kong Harald and Dronning Sonja arrived in London today and will attend a large party for foreign officials at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge.  During their stay in England, the couple will stay at the home of the Norwegian ambassador to Great Britain at Palace Green in Kensington.

Despite the monarchs increasing age, they still do quite a bit of traveling.  They will spend nearly two weeks in the U.S. this fall visiting New York and the Midwest (Iowa and Minnesota specifically).  I don´t think their full itinerary has been made public yet, but I imagine they will visit St. Olaf, my Alma Mater.  Since I can remember, members of the Norwegian Royal Family have visited numerous times.  In New York, they will celebrate the 100th anniversaty of the American Scandinavian Foundation.

Another piece of interesting news on the Royal Family involves a church in Miami, FL.  This fall, Sjømannskirken Kronprinsesse Mette-Marits Kirke-Scandinavian Church and Center will open.  Sjømannskirken (The Seamen´s Church), which operates the Norwegian Seamen´s Churches around the world supports the naming of this church.  Mette-Marit, a former party girl, has shown a more religious side of herself in recent years.  She goes on pilgrim hikes, promotes hymns, and supports the State Church.  The church in Miami will be the 6th church that bears a royal name (the others are in Stockholm, Paris, New York, Torrevieja in Spain, and Copenhagen).  Visit the Sjømannskirke website with a page in Norwegian on the new church.