Over 20 laureates gathered in Oslo yesterday to see Kofi Annan accept the centennial Nobel Peace Prize. The Secretary General of the United Nations said that it seemed “almost indecent” to do so while wars were being waged around the globe.
The Norwegian royals were out in force at the ceremony, at Oslo’s City Hall, although they were without Queen Sonia, who had injured her foot and was unable to attend. King Harald and his two children, Martha-Louise and Haakon, as well as the Crown Prince’s new bride, Mette-Marit, watched as the head of the UN collected his prize – a gold medal, $950,000 and a diploma – and listened to the fighter jets circling the city in case of terrorist attack.
“We have entered the third millennium through a gate of fire,” said the 63-year-old diplomat in his acceptance speech. “If today, after the horror of 11 September, we see better and we see further, we will realise that humanity is indivisible. New threats make no distinction between races, nations or regions. A new insecurity has entered every mind, regardless of wealth or status.”
Meanwhile, in another Scandinavian city, the other Nobel prize-winners were being presented with their awards, watched over by another royal family. King Carl-Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden were accompanied by their eldest daughter, Crown Princess Victoria, and Princess Lilian, the monarch’s aunt, to the Concert Hall in Stockholm, where they saw British author VS Naipaul receive his Nobel Prize for Literature. The Physics, Chemistry, Medicine and Economics prizes were also awarded at the ceremony.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
