A passionate advocate for HIV prevention and women's rights, Princess Mette-Marit of Norway is passing on her values to her son. Visiting New York for a meeting of global leaders, she was joined by 15-year-old Marius.The teenager was confirmed a few weeks ago at a moving ceremony in the presence of the entire royal family including his stepfather Crown Prince Haakon and his parents King Harald and Queen Sonja.
And Mette-Marit, 39, obviously thinks the time is right to teach him more about the causes she holds dear. Mother and son sat listening intently at the annual Clinton Global Initiative conference which heard from heavyweights such as founder President Bill Clinton and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. With Queen Rania of Jordan on stage, the former US leader told delegates "all that people want is a job" and challenged business leaders to open stores in troubled regions of the world such as Libya.
On her US trip, the campaigning royal also attended events by Fashion 4 Development and Women Deliver, a platform working for safe motherhood, gender equality and girls education.
Mother-of-three Mette-Marit recently described one of the first tours that she took as an AIDS campaigner in emotional terms. It was to Malawi and the impact of seeing other young mothers with "babies literally dying in their arms" gave added impetus to her work.
