Early life
Born on 20 July, 1973, at Rikshospitalet in Oslo, Haakon Magnus, the Crown Prince of Norway is the younger child of King Harald V and his wife Sonja (his sister, Martha Louise, is two years older than him). The young prince's childhood, spent at the family's country estate of Skaugum, was idyllic. The young Haakon's sole public duty was on Constitution Day, 17 May of each year, when he would wave to the children's procession from the palace balcony.
Prince Haakon became Crown Prince on the death of his grandfather Olav V in January 1991. Haakon was educated at local state schools, before beginning a four-year naval career. Then he began setting royal precedents. Rather than follow his father and his grandfather before him to Balliol College, Oxford, the crown prince enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, where he gained a Bachelor's degree in political science.
Personal life
Haakon continued his education at Oslo University, where he studied law and social science. Soon after his return from the States Haakon was introduced by mutual friends to single mum Mette-Marit, and the two fell deeply in love. Setting another precedent, Haakon moved in with the future Princess and her four-year-old son from a previous relationship, Marius, and the three lived as any normal family would, visiting coffee bars and grocery shopping together in jeans and trainers.
The leaders of Norway's Lutheran church were not impressed with this personal development, and Haakon soon came into the firing line for endangering the status of the monarchy. But the announcement of an engagement in December 2000 smoothed the waters, and by the time Haakon married Princess Mette-Marit on 25 August, in Oslo, the public's opinion of Mette-Marie had changed to be far more favourable.
Like many of Europe's princes, Haakon is sporty and athletic, with a passion for sailing, skiing, surfing, cycling and paragliding. A theatre lover with a penchant for Ibsen plays, the prince also likes cinema, music and literature.
Children
On 21 January 2004, the royal family grew with the arrival of daughter Princess Ingrid Alexandra, who is due to become Norway's first ever female heir to the throne after the country's absolute primogeniture rule was no longer in place on her birth. Her little brother, Prince Sverre Magnus, arrived in December 2005.
For more news about Crown Prince Haakon, click here. For updates on the Norwegian royal family, see here.
