The royal couple of Norway celebrates their 20th anniversary - and looks back on an eventful past.
Oslo - 20 years ago, Crown Prince Haakon and Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby tied the knot.
And that, as it should be for real royals, at a real fairytale wedding.
On this occasion, the couple can look back on an eventful past that was not all good.
Even the beginning of their relationship was unusual compared to other royal families, as the royal couple of Norway summed up in a recent interview.
The prince got to know the commoner Mette-Marit in 1999 at a festival.
Despite all of this and the fact that Mette-Marit already had a two-year-old son, the romance soon solidified and culminated in the royal wedding two years later.
Royals of Norway: Princess found terminal illness
Not only the people from Norway welcomed the outsider with enthusiasm, the royal family also welcomed their new member with open arms: “I have often read about you that you are the ordinary girl who will become Norway's Crown Princess today.
That doesn't agree with my impression, ”said Haakon's father, King Harald V, at the time.
“You are not an ordinary girl.
You are an extraordinary girl. "
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The Crown Prince couple of Norway celebrate their 20th anniversary.
The Royals look back on an eventful past.
(Archive photo)
© Lise Aaserud / dpa
The way Mette-Marit dealt with the stroke of fate that befell her in autumn 2018 was also “extraordinary”.
The princess herself announced on the evening news from Norway that she had been diagnosed with incurable pulmonary fibrosis.
The lungs are attacked by chronic inflammation of the connective tissue, which can be fatal.
Royals: Diagnosis helped Princess of Norway change her point of view
Since the diagnosis, Mette-Marit has been shortening her royal duties, although the 48-year-old's illness has also helped to change her point of view, as she said in an interview: “In the time of my illness, it was more important than ever to me, simple just to be Mette, ”she said.
"And that that's okay.
That I don't have to define myself as the Crown Princess, but have the right to be Mette first of all. "
Another illness was recently diagnosed in the couple's daughter: Ingrid Alexandra, Princess of Norway, fell ill with Corona *, with consequences for the whole family.
There is also a case of illness in another royal family: Princess Charlène von Monaco recently had to undergo an operation.
(vbu / dpa)
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