I read that this morning. Never heard of him until today.

I went to Oslo in 2019. We walked past the Royal Palace and the Norwegian royal flag, the Kongeflagget, was flying above the castle. I presumed it is the same as Buckingham Palace, that when the Royal Standard is flying it means the monarch is there. His Majesty The King's Guards were present. I yelled at one "hey, is the King in today?" At first, he ignored me, then when I asked again, he said, "I cannot tell you." Then he winked at me. 😉

I was actually in Oslo last week, and heard that King Harald was hospitalized. It's always sad when a beloved monarch dies.

Seriously, @LoneJack Zn 6a, KC?

I knew who he was because of his son and wife and her problem son. Well, worse than a problem. I understand her health is not so good. Royal families are an interesting bunch.

RIP, Harald.

colleenoz, I have never heard of him either and if it hadn't been mentioned, I would have had to look up what country he was king of.

The new queen had a lung transplant this summer. Their daughter is now crown princess, as the order of succession was updated several years ago to allow first born, male or female. to succeed the monarch.

King Harald broke with a bit of tradition by passing up marrying a European princess or nobility, until his father consented to him marrying his longtime sweetheart. Harald lived in US as a child, during the war, while his father was in exile in England.

Haakon went to UC-Berkeley.

Another who never heard of him. I googled to see if his name was being spelled correctly here, snd it is, so now I know two things about him. How to spell his name and rhat he’s passed. RIP!

" I googled to see if his name was being spelled correctly here "

To check spelling, and not to see who he was? Seriously?

Yeah I started typing King Ha… and his name came up with the second A. That’s all I was after as I’ve never seen that spelling before. Should he have more impact on my life? As a general statement, royals don’t interest me much.

" Should he have more impact on my life? "

I wouldn't necessarily think so. At least to my point of view, the remaining monarchies in Europe are quite a bit more likeable than that headed by Charles. But the Norwegians have had their scandals too, as I alluded to.

" I’ve never seen that spelling before "

Had you seen the name Haakon before? It's not uncommon in that part of the world.

With the exception of the remaining vestiges of the British Empire, most of which I think still grant the British monarch a title of state for perhaps reasons of nostalgia or tradition, I think most if not all of the other monarchies that remain are not in countries where English is the local language. Accordingly, if you see the title King or Queen and then a name, you shouldn't expect it will be one you're familiar with seeing or spelling. Though, many are for some people, for various reasons.

Had you seen the name Haakon before? It's not uncommon in that part of the world.

Not being very familiar with "that part of the world" Haakon looks like a misspelling to me too. I have never encountered either but then I don't follow any of the royals.

I think the double A is common in Norway. Remember their star soccer player is named Erling Haaland.

Aass Brewery is in Norway.

Rox - do they make?

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I looked up how to pronounce Haakon, and got two different results from the same site. It depends on the spelling, I guess? Haakon, the ”aa” is pronounced ”ah”. Håkon, the å is pronounced somewhere between ”aw” and ”oh”.

LOL, Lonejack! That would be the outcome if you drank enough, I suppose.

eta If you ever find yourself ordering Aass Beer, don’t ask for a glass of a$s.

It’s pronounced ows. (sort of)

bpath, since Norway, like the US, has regional dialects, it's possible that both are correct.

Our tour guide on the trip, who lived in Norway until college, is the only person I heard pronounce the capital city as "Oshlo" instead of Oslo.

Norway has a fascinating history, with Danish kings, invasion from Sweden, and German occupation during WWII. We visited a German bunker in Bud, and learned that there were 320 German installations along the coast of Norway. I have a lot more to learn!

Many kings of Norway have been called Haakon, including Haakon the VII who went into exile in the UK during WWII. Also if you're interested in Vikings you'll come across plenty of Haakons.

I’m reminded of the porrodge story, and see that was anothr Harald. Kill me lord king, but not with porridge!

AnnKH, an interesting story of a WW2 British commando raid to a strategic site in Norway is covered in the book We Died Alone, by David Howarth.

The German invasion of Norway was facilitated by the traitorous conduct of a Norwegian collaborator, an official named Vidkun Quisling. Quisling was installed by the Germans as the leader of the collaborationist government that existed during the occupation.

A wry consequence of his actions is that his name led to the creation of the word "quisling" in English, to describe someone who acts disloyally to betray their country and collaborates with another, to the detriment of their home country.

" Not being very familiar with "that part of the world" Haakon looks like a misspelling to me too."

You may want to put the Scandinavian countries on your "Places to go" list. Lovely scenery and nice people. Interesting things to do in the capitals and also for some outlying spots. English is universally spoken, and spoken very proficiently. The countries all share the Northern Continental European values of cleanliness, efficiency (mostly) and organization.

I learned that among the three Scandinavian countries, the different languages are quite mutually intelligible in conversation. Norwegian and Swedish are the closest to one another, and Danish stands a bit apart from those two. Apparently because its pronunciation of similar words is more guttural.

We had a nice but brief visit to Helsinki. It was gray and quiet there, things seeming to be a bit dull. We have friends from Finland and they describe it that way too. I'd say to stick to the other 3 for visiting.

(Note that Finland is not considered a "Scandinavian" country and its language is completely different from the three just mentioned. Finnish is closest to Hungarian, a language that resembles few others.)

Ah, Elmer, if only I could!!! I fear my world travel days are behind me although I do have several friends who have been to most all the interesting parts of the world and shares their travels with me.

I am happy that you have had the opportunity to see such places. I do believe that any kind of travel is the best way to learn about the world. And makes for much more interesting friends. :)

Sorry you have no more travel in your future. For you or anyone else with interests that stop short of taking a long plane flight, there are probably many documentary and travelog videos available to watch to provide "visits" to places that may interest you. Books too.

Travel is not only a way to learn about the world, but it helps. Even more importantly, in experiencing other countries, we also learn more about ourselves personally, as individuals. We're not as special or different a nation as people making patriotic outbursts seem to think. There's plenty to learn from others, but we're not good at doing that.

We Died Alone, by David Howarth

I just got this one at the library.

It describes a raid, as I mentioned before. Not one that produced a turning point in the Allied effort but as it involved Norway. I found it to be a curious story and thought it may be of interest to you based on your comment.

There were so many odd things that went on here and there during WW2, many lost to history and never to be known. One of many who have written a number of books covering lesser known or previously unknown stories is Ben Macintyre. His books seem to be relatively well researched and are written in an agreeable style and flow. Enough detail for credibility, not so much as to read like a dull history textbook.

For those who watched Atlantic Crossing on PBS, he was that little prince.

A search I did described that series as "heavily fictionalized" and "historically inaccurate". Although I guess while using the real names as a starting point for characters and the storyline it wanted the production to follow.