An unmarried mother is in line to be Norway's next queen. The royal palace yesterday announced the engagement of Crown Prince Haakon to his live-in girlfriend. The wedding - set for August 25th - will be Norway's first royal wedding since the prince's parents, King Harald and Queen Sonja, married in 1968.
Prince Haakon (27) confirmed in May that he had a steady relationship with Ms Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby (27), the mother of a three-year-old boy. For months, Norwegians had been expecting a wedding announcement, since the two had moved in together.
The couple, smiling and holding hands, appeared at a packed news conference in the royal palace yesterday, hours after their engagement was announced in parliament.
Ms Hoiby displayed a diamond engagement ring on her finger that Prince Haakon said was the same one his father gave his mother, and his grandfather King Olav gave to his wife, Queen Martha.
Legal experts say Ms Hoiby's son Marius could never become the figurehead monarch, even if Prince Haakon adopted him, because the constitution requires that the heir to the throne be the biological child of the monarch.
Prince Haakon said he had no plans to adopt the boy.