Princess Märtha of Sweden

Princess Märtha of Sweden Crown Princess of Norway in 1929 Spouse Olav, Crown Prince of Norway Issue Princess Ragnhild Princess Astrid Harald V of Norway Full name Märtha Sofia Lovisa Dagmar Thyra House House of Bernadotte House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg Father Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland Mother Princess Ingeborg of Denmark Born 28 March 1901(1901-03-28) Palace of the Hereditary Prince, Stockholm, Sweden Died 5 April 1954 (aged 53) Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway

Swedish Royalty House of Bernadotte Charles XIV John Children    Oscar I Oscar I Children    Charles XV    Gustaf, Duke of Upland    Oscar II    Princess Eugenie    August, Duke of Dalarna Charles XV Children    Lovisa, Queen of Denmark    Carl Oscar, Duke of Södermanland Oscar II Children    Gustaf V    Oscar, Duke of Gotland    Eugén, Duke of Närke    Carl, Duke of Västergötland Grandchildren    Princess Margaretha    Märtha, Crown Princess of Norway    Astrid, Queen of Belgium    Carl, Duke of Östergötland Gustaf V Children    Gustaf VI Adolf    Vilhelm, Duke of Södermanland    Erik, Duke of Västmanland Gustaf VI Adolf Children    Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten    Sigvard, Duke of Uppland    Ingrid, Queen of Denmark    Bertil, Duke of Halland    Carl Johan, Duke of Dalarna Grandchildren    Princess Margaretha    Princess Birgitta    Princess Désirée    Princess Christina    Carl XVI Gustaf Carl XVI Gustaf Children    Crown Princess Victoria    Carl Philip, Duke of Värmland    Madeleine, Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland

Princess Märtha of Sweden (28 March 1901 in Stockholm – 5 April 1954 in Oslo), full name, Märtha Sofia Lovisa Dagmar Thyra was the granddaughter of King Oscar II of Sweden and the spouse of Crown Prince Olav of Norway (later King Olav V). She was the first Crown Princess of Norway in modern times who was not also Crown Princess of Sweden or Denmark. She was also a Princess of Norway from her birth in 1901 to the dissolution of the personal union between Sweden and Norway in 1905.

Crown Princess of Norway

Märtha was the daughter of HRH Prince Carl of Sweden and HRH Princess Ingeborg of Denmark, Princess of Sweden. After a secret and then public engagement, she married her cousin Olav in Oslo on 21 March 1929, and so became HRH The Crown Princess of Norway. Theirs was the first royal wedding in Norway in 340 years.

They had three children: Ragnhild (1930); Astrid (1932); and Harald (1937).

The Crown Princess became popular for her outgoing manner. She was an accomplished seamstress and sewed clothing for herself and her children. In 1939, not long before World War II broke out in Europe, she and Olav visited the United States. They became friends with President Franklin Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor Roosevelt. Märtha and Olav toured the Upper Midwest, where many Norwegian immigrants had settled.

During this tour, Märtha was initiated into the Delta Zeta sorority. She and her lady-in-waiting were pinned at the University of North Dakota, at an initiation service presided over by Delta Zeta national president Myrtle Graeter Malott.^[1]

World War II

When Germany conquered Norway in 1940, Märtha and her three children fled to her native Sweden. 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 went to the United States on the USS American Legion, via the then Finnish port city of Petsamo. In the U.S., she and the children at first even lived in the White House.

Olav, however, had gone with his father the King to United Kingdom, where he worked with the Norwegian government-in-exile. Thus Olav and Märtha were mostly separated during the war.

The friendship with the Roosevelts was further developed during the war years. Märtha's work for the Red Cross and on behalf of Norwegian interests impressed Roosevelt and influenced his "Look to Norway" speech in 1942.

Controversially, novelist and essayist Gore Vidal later asserted that Märtha was "the last love" of Roosevelt.^[2]

Märtha spent most of World War II in the United States, where she worked tirelessly to keep up support for Norway among the American public and government. When she returned to Norway after the war, she received a hero's welcome and was referred to as a "mother of the nation". She wholly embraced her role as Crown Princess of Norway from the beginning and made a tremendous effort towards helping Norway.

Death

After several illnesses and a long period of poor health, she died in 1954 of cancer, three years before her husband became King.

Legacy

A 970,000 km² area in Antarctica is named Princess Martha Coast in her honor.

A statue of her was erected outside the Norwegian embassy in Washington, D.C. in 2005. In 2007, a replica of the statue was erected at the Royal Palace in Oslo.

Crown Princess Märtha’s Memorial Fund is a charitable trust administered by the Norwegian Crown. Märtha's youngest daughter Astrid is chairperson. It was established as Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Märtha’s Fund on 1 April 1929. The fund "is to provide financial support to social and humanitarian initiatives carried out by non-governmental organisations." In 2005, the Fund had assets of approximately 28 million Norwegian krone (NOK), and issued grants totalling about 1.5 million NOK to about 300 receipients.^[3]

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, Princess of Sweden (1929–1954)

Ancestry

Styles of Crown Princess Märtha of Norway
Reference style	Her Royal Highness
Spoken style	Your Royal Highness
Alternative style	Ma'am

References

1. ^ Brewer, Nancy, and Rochelle Mackey. A Century of Sisterhood: The Story of Delta Zeta Sorority 1902-2002. Phoenix: Heritage, Inc., AZ.
2. ^ Vidal, Gore (1995). Palimpsest: a memoir. New York: Random House. pp. 64. ISBN 0-679-44038-0. 
3. ^ Royal House web page on Crown Princess Märtha’s Memorial Fund Retrieved 6 November 2007

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Princess Märtha of Sweden

• Royal House of Sweden and Royal House of Norway
• Royal House of Norway