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Prince Harald and Sonja on their engagement in 1968© Getty

Royal couple's forbidden love story to be told in new Prime Video series

King Harald and Queen Sonja kept their relationship a secret for nearly a decade

Danielle Stacey
Online Royal CorrespondentLondon
January 30, 2025
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King Harald and Queen Sonja have been married for over 56 years, but the road to their happily ever after wasn't plain sailing.

The Norwegian royal couple's once-forbidden romance is set to be depicted in a new Prime Video Norway series, to be released on 14 February.

A trailer for the show, Harald & Sonja, features the tagline: "The true story of love so powerful it threatened the Norwegian monarchy."

Watch below...

WATCH: King Harald and Queen Sonja's forbidden love story retold on Prime Video series

Romantic scenes show Sonja (played by Gina Bernhoft Gørvell) and Harald (Sindre Strand Offerdal sailing on a boat together, dancing in a ballroom and embracing sweetly in the snow.

But Sonja is warned not to fall in love with the then Crown Prince as his father, King Olav (Anders Baasmo), wants his son to marry a princess.  

Sonja Haraldsen first met Harald at a party in 1959, with the Crown Prince inviting her to his graduation ball, where they were photographed for the first time.

Prince Sonja and Sonja Haraldsen on their engagement © Getty
Harald and Sonja on the day of their engagement photocall

The couple kept their relationship secret for nine years because Sonja was a commoner.

Eventually, King Olav V gave his blessing as Harald told his father that if he could not marry Sonja, he would not marry at all. 

As Harald was the only person in the line of succession to the throne at the time, it would have ended the reign of his family.

The pair announced their engagement on 19 March 1968 and were married in August later that year.

The bride looked beautiful in a high-neck silk wedding dress by Molstad, but opted for flowers in her hair rather than a tiara.

Prince Harald and Sonja on their wedding day © Getty
Harald and Sonja on their wedding day

Instead of a tiara, Sonja used flowers in her hair to secure her veil.

Harald and Sonja went on to welcome two children – Princess Martha Louise and Crown Prince Haakon.

King Harald and Queen Sonja in 2021© Getty
Harald became king in 1991

Despite being younger than his sister, Crown Prince Haakon is heir to the Norwegian throne because constitutional law at the time dictated that only males could inherit the Norwegian throne. The law changed in 1990 but only applied to those born that year or later.

While the British royal family's lives have been depicted in the Netflix drama series The Crown, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of The Netherlands' love story was retold in the Videoland biographical series, Maxima, last summer.

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