Princess Märtha of Sweden
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Princess Märtha of Sweden, Crown Princess of Norway (March 28, 1901 in Stockholm – April 5, 1954 in Oslo), full name, Märtha Sofia Lovisa Dagmar Thyra was the first crown princess of Norway in modern times who was not also Crown Princess of Sweden or Denmark. She was also Princess of Norway from her birth in 1901 to the dissolution of the personal union between Sweden and Norway in 1905.
Märtha was the daughter of Prince Charles of Sweden and Princess Ingeborg of Denmark. After a secret and then public engagement, she married her cousin Crown Prince Olav of Norway (later King Olav V) on March 21, 1929, and so became the Crown Princess of Norway. Theirs was the first royal wedding in Norway in 340 years.
The crown princess became popular for her extrovert manner. She was an accomplished seamstress and sewed clothing for herself and her children. In 1939, just before World War II broke out in Europe, she toured the Upper Midwest with Olav. During their stay in the US they struck up a friendship with Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.
When German troops invaded Norway in 1940, she and her three children fled to her native Sweden where she was not well received. Some felt she had put Sweden's neutrality at jeopardy and some even suggested she should take her three year old son Harald back to Norway so he could be proclaimed King by the Germans. This was never an option for Märtha and after an invitation by President Roosevelt she left for the United States, via the then Finnish port city of Petsamo. In the US she and the children at first even lived in the White House. The friendship with the Roosevelts was further developed during these years. Her work for the Red Cross and on behalf of Norwegian interests impressed Roosevelt and influenced his "Look to Norway"-speech in 1942.
She spent most of World War II in the United States, where she tirelessly worked to keep up support for Norway among the American public and government. When she arrived back in Norway after the war she received a hero's welcome and was referred to as a "mother of the nation". She wholely embraced her role as Crown princess of Norway from the beginning and made a tremendous effort towards helping Norway. Even though she never became queen, older Norwegians still hold her in very high regard; however, younger Norwegians learn little about her. One might say that the tragedy of her legacy was that even though she achieved a lot she died too old to become a legend and too young to have fulfilled her life's work.
She and her husband had three children: Harald, Ragnhild and Astrid. After several illnesses and poor health, she died in 1954 from the effects of cancer, three years before her husband became king.
A 970,000 km² area in Antarctica is named Princess Martha Coast in her honour.
A statue of her was erected outside the Norwegian embassy in Washington D.C. in 2005.
[edit] Titles from birth to death
Here is a list of the styles Crown Princess Märtha bore from birth to death, in chronological order:
- Her Royal Highness Princess Märtha of Sweden and Norway (1901-1905)
- Her Royal Highness Princess Märtha of Sweden (1905-1929)
- Her Royal Highness The Crown Princess of Norway (1929-1954)
| Styles of Crown Princess Märtha of Norway |
|
|---|---|
 |
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| Reference style | Her Royal Highness |
| Spoken style | Your Royal Highness |
| Alternative style | Ma'am |
