Last Thursday, Her Majesty was present at a history of skiing evening at the Ski Museum in Oslo where she met Secretary-General Erik Eide of the Ski Association and the Ski Museum’s leader, ？slaug Midtdal.

       In the 1940s and 1950s, the Eriksen brothers put Norway on the alpine ski map after Marius Eriksen won the unofficial Norwegian slalom championship in 1947 and 1948, and participated with his brother in the Winter Olympics at home in 1952.

       Stein Eriksen, who did better in the Olympics compared to his brother Marcus, won three gold medals during the World Cup in alpine skiing in 1954.

       King Harald spent a long time with Stein Eriksen during the slalom race during the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in the USA in 2002.

       In October King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway opened a new art museum in Oslo to commemorate a famous Norwegian artist, Edvard Munch.

       King Harald V of Norway, who ascended to the throne in 1993, was the only son of King Olav V and Princess M？rtha of Sweden and is the second cousin of Elizabeth II.

       King Harald married Sonja Haraldsen in 1968 and the couple now share two children - M？rtha Louise and Haakon. Sonja gave birth to Princess M？rtha Louise on September 22, 1971, and then to Crown Princess Haakon on July 20, 1973.

       King Harald and Queen Sonja now have six grandchildren - Prince Ingrid Alexandra, Prince Sverre Magnus, Maud Angelica, Leah Isadora and Emma Talulah Behn, and Marius Borg H？iby, who is Mette-Marit’s son from a previous relationship.

       Ingrid Alexandra and Sverre Magnus are the children of Crown Prince Haakon and his wife Crown Princess Mette-Marit.

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       Sonja Haraldsen was born on July 4, 1937, in Oslo, to clothing merchant Karl Haraldsen and his wife Dagny Haraldsen.

       She studied dressmaking and tailoring in Oslo and fashion at école Professionnelle des Jeunes Filles in Switzerland.

       Sonja then attended the University of Oslo where she received a degree in French, English and art history.

       Sonja and Harald came from very different backgrounds, but met at a party in 1959, then dated secretly for nine years due to Sonja’s status as a commoner.

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       Finally, in March 1968, the Royal Court of Norway announced that Harald’s father King Olav had given the couple permission to marry.