Spotted in Red #4? - Princess Martha-Louise

I dunno if this is red, but let's just say so 

Our beloved Princess Martha-Louise of Norway was spotted attending a Christmas concert at Vang Church with her husband, Ari Behn.

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[The Netherlands] Princess Maxima's 40th royal birthday concert - The Norwegians

We see Martha-Louise so little that I tend to forget how beautiful she is.

Yummy Crown Prince Haakon. Wifeless for this event.

Things I didn't forget about Martha-Louise: she still has the most gorgeous husband in town! 

Behind them, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg and Princess Carolina of Bourbon Parma, Princess Irene's daughter

source of the photos

[Norway] Why did Princess Märtha Louise sky dive this week?

Princess Märtha Louise of Norway completed a tandem sky dive this week to draw attention to a Norwegian charity. The charity, supported by the Norwegian Sports Association, aims to show that disabled people can be more active and participate in sports they might not think of participating in. To read more about this initiative, click here.

source of the photos

[Norway] Crown Prince Haakon defends his sister Martha-Louise

Crown Prince Haakon went to the unusual step on Wednesday of defending his sister, Princess Martha Louise, after she set off more controversy by suggesting she can communicate with the dead. The princess also defended herself.

Members of the royal family normally don’t comment on criticism leveled against them, but Haakon apparently felt a need to address the concerns raised by Norwegian bishops and other religious leaders earlier this week. They didn’t like reading comments made by the princess in newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad, in which she suggested it was as easy for her to make contact with the dead as it is with angels. The princess has attracted widespread publicity for her earlier claims of being able to communicate with angels, and she makes money trying to help others get in touch with their angels.

The crown prince, attending a youth conference on respect in Drammen on Wednesday, opened his remarks by saying that instead of “talking behind people’s backs,” he preferred to talk in front of them, and forward their interests.“I have a very good sister,” he said. “She is caring and genuinely concerned with taking care of other people. I won’t go into more details about that, because you know what I’m talking about.”

read more here

[Norway] Princess and her husband draw flak

Several members of the Norwegian Parliament, from both ends of the political spectrum, are joining Norwegian bishops in criticizing Princess Martha Louise and her husband Ari Behn. They claim the couple has stepped over the bounds of royal conduct.

“Both of them have crossed the line,” the former secretary of the Labour Party, Martin Kolberg, told newspaper Aftenposten on Thursday. Kolberg now is a Member of Parliament, a member of its Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs (Kontroll- og konstitusjonskomité) and responsible for issues involving the monarchy.

Several members of the parliamentary committee have reacted negatively to the princess’ business operations, which involve helping people get in touch with their guardian angels. The princess set off more controversy earlier this week when she suggested to newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad that she also can contact the dead. She later tried to downplay her remarks.

“I can’t remember any situation in modern history where a princess has done this sort of thing,” Kolberg told Aftenposten. “I simply don’t think she should.” Nor is he happy that the princess’ husband, author and budding artist Ari Behn, has appeared as a model in a Swedish clothing company’s ad campaign, which features his “royal” ties.

“I think they’ve both gone over the line for what members of the royal family can do,” Kolberg said. “This infects the entire royal house and can in the worst case contribute towards weakening its authority.”

Per-Kristian Foss, a former finance minister and head of the Conservative Party who remains a Member of Parliament, also feels that the princess is getting into “dangerous” territory when she talks about angels and communicating with the dead.

“That kind of controversial activity within religion and faith is as touchy as politics (which the royals are not allowed to comment on),” Foss told Aftenposten. “She’s taking a big risk by doing this and I think it indirectly weakens the royal family’s image.”

Both Crown Prince Haakon, the princess’ younger brother, and Behn have defended Martha Louise, calling her “brave, caring and hard-working” among other things. There has been no official comment so far from either her father, King Harald, or her mother, Queen Sonja, despite the rising level of unusually harsh criticism from bishops and politicians.

Behn’s modeling job, meanwhile, “is both unnecessary and incorrect in his position,” Kolstad said. “I would be quite special if a government minister popped up in a clothing ad.”

Hans Olav Syvertsen of the opposition Christian Democrats called Behn’s modeling job “extremely unfortunate,” and expressed surprise that the staff at the Royal Palace didn’t advise him against it.

Syvertsen said he understands why several royal experts in Norway have recently called for Martha Louise to give up her princess title or at least voluntarily withdraw from her position as a royal heir. She currently is fourth in line to the throne after her brother, Crown Prince Haakon, and his two small children.

While Arild Anundsen of the Progress Party wasn’t so sure all the uproar around Martha Louise was entirely negative, Hallgeir Langeland of the Socialist Left indicated he was enjoying the fuss.

“I’m just glad that Ari and Martha stir up trouble for the royal house,” Langeland told Aftenposten. “That’s good for us republicans.”

from newsinenglish.no

What do you think?

Much ado about nothing or a real threat to Norway's monarchy?

[Norway] Princess upsets bishops (and so does her husband)

Princess Martha Louise has once again become a source of provocation. This time it’s Norway’s bishops and religious experts who are upset over her claims that she not only can communicate with angels, but with the dead as well.

One leading professor of theology at the University of Oslo told Norwegian Broadcating (NRK) on the prime-time national newscast Monday evening that Princess Martha Louise’s claims are “a major problem for the Norwegian royal family and for the state church.”

He was supported by Laila Rikaasen Dahl, a Norwegian bishop speaking on behalf of her fellow bishops. Dahl also assailed Princess Martha Louise’s claims that “it’s not difficult” to contact the dead.

“We don’t known enough about the status of the dead, but they belong to God and should be allowed to rest in peace,” Bishop Dahl told NRK. “We should remember the dead, not try to get in touch with them.”

‘Very unhealthy’

Dahl was reacting to an interview with the princess, daughter of King Harald V and Queen Sonja, in newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad, in which she said that “it’s not difficult to come in contact with the dead, in the same way with angels. We can also make contact whenever we want, when we want to.”

The bishops believe that goes against the teachings of Christianity in Norway, as practiced by the evangelical Lutheran church which is presided over by King Harald. Efforts to contact the dead “can open up for powers of the occult, which we have no overview of,” said Dahl.

Erling Pettersen, Norway’s bishop in Stavanger, also warned the princess against trying to contact the dead, calling such efforts “very unhealthy.”

The bishops went public with their unusual criticism of a member of the Norwegian royal family because the princess claims she’s a Christian herself. “We must say that this (contacting the dead) is not part of the Christian teachings,” Dahl said.

The secretary general of Norway’s missionary organization NMS also was upset by the princess’ claims she can contact the dead, and made it clear he didn’t want any such activity inside the NMS offices that the princess was using for a course in connection with her so-called “angel school.”

Neither the princess, her parents or any palace spokespersons would comment on the bishops’ and missionaries’ warnings and criticism, or on the princess’ latest claims of psychic powers. She’s been at the center of controversy before, not least since she launched a business that aims to help clients get in touch with their own angels, for a fee.

NMS Secretary General Kjetil Aano told Aftenbladet.no that he had talked to her on the phone, though, and received assurances she would not engage in any attempts at communication with the dead. He said she also claimed her comments about how easy it was to contact the dead had been taken out of context.

“That’s of no interest to me,” Aano said. “The important thing is that no one tries contacting the dead on missionary property.”

Ari grabbing more attention, too

The princess’ husband, author and artist Ari Behn, has also been stirring up controversy again, first by publicly appearing in women’s clothing and then by appearing in fashion ads for a Swedish apparel maker that claimed it was getting “a royal visit” in its fall collections.

Behn has no royal title himself and is not officially a member of the royal family, since he merely married into it. The royals also have a long tradition of refraining from commercial ventures, but Behn seems to have ignored it, calling the clothes “hip” and claiming that working on the ad campaign was “very amusing.”

Behn is technically exempted from the commercial restrictions placed on the royal family, but royal commentator Carl-Erik Grimstad nonetheless called Behn’s latest activity “offensive” and “problematic.”

from newsinenglish.no

[Princess Victoria & Daniel Westling's Wedding] Princess Martha Louise of Norway and husband Ari Behn

At the pre-wedding and at the wedding.

I love her pre-wedding dress and dislike the second choice.

And I am completely into her husband, no matter what he's wearing.

[Princess Victoria & Daniel Westling's pre-wedding] Royal Norwegian Family arriving

Equally dazzling was Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit in a beautiful dove grey evening gown. Her appearance prompted a display of gallantry from her husband Haakon, who took her by the hand to escort her from HMS Norge. The ship was a present to their family from the Norwegian people in 1947. Accompanying the couple - whose daughter Ingrid, another of the bride's godchildren, had travelled with them - were his sister Martha Louise and her partner Ari Behn.

[Princess Victoria & Daniel Westling's Wedding]

Infanta Elena, Duke Iñaki, Infanta Cristina (of Spain) +

Prince Constantijn and Princess Mabel & Prince Friso and Princess Laurentien (of the Netherlands)

Princess Martha Louise and husband Ari Behn talking with Princess Astrid and Prince Lorenz of Belgium just behind him.

I have to be honest: these kind of photos are the exact reason why I love royalty. I used to gather, as a little girl, all the photos I could of several royal members from different houses and loved to see them together. "As if" they were normal people that had to be meet for special reasons, but still, with space to be human, friendly and kind-of down to earth. I hope I will find many more photos like these in the future.

Norway's Martha Louise returns to royal spotlight at gala for Queen Beatrix

Princess Martha Louise has not been a regular presence at Norwegian royal engagements of late but she made a return to the official stage on Tuesday to attend a royal gala dinner to mark Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands' state visit.

The mum-of-three joined the rest of the royal family, including King Harald V, Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit, in Oslo's Royal Palace.

The 38-year-old princess has been taking time out from the royal spotlight to concentrate on her writing, which she says has helped her find herself.

On Thursday she presented her latest work Möt din Skyddsängel, alongside business partner Elisabeth Samnoy. The book reflects on the work the pair have done together at the Astarte education centre, in which they teach the students "to believe in miracles" in their lives.

The Netherlands' Queen Beatrix is on a three-day official visit to Norway. The monarch arrived in Oslo on Tuesday on board the frigate Tromp and was met by Crown Prince Haakon, who accompanied her to port.

There she was also welcomed by King Harald, Queen Sonja and Crown Princess Mette-Marit, as well as hundreds of flag-waving well-wishers from Norway's Dutch community.

After laying flowers on a memorial to those fallen during World War II, she travelled to parliament for a meeting with Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg, before attending the day's main event, the gala dinner.

On Wednesday, among other engagements, she visited an Oslo school praised for its integration of immigrant children and met Norwegian business leaders. The Queen is set to head north to complete her visit in the city of Bergen on Thursday.