Clik here to view.
Book news: The soft power of royal heirs
In August last year I participated in a conference on the soft power of royal heirs at the University of St Andrews, and now Palgrave Macmillan has gathered the lectures given at this conference in a...
View ArticleMy latest article: The Second Empire
My thirtieth and last article of 2016 is about the Second Empire, i.e. the reign of Emperor Napoléon III of the French from 1852 to 1870. Like the Emperor himself, the Empire was full of paradoxes, and...
View ArticleMy latest articles: The King and Princess Astrid & the artistic Princess Louise
The February issue of Majesty (Vol. 38, No. 2) has been on sale since last week and as February will see the King's 80th birthday as well as Princess Astrid's 85th I have written an article on the two...
View Article81 % support for Norwegian monarchy
On the occasion of the King's eightieth birthday tomorrow, state broadcaster NRK has commissioned an opinion poll (external link) from Norstat on whether Norway ought to be a monarchy or not. The poll...
View ArticleOn this day: The King's eightieth birthday
Time flies, and today the King is suddenly eighty. While his seventieth birthday was the occasion of a major round of celebrations, he is spending his eigtieth (like his 75th) birthday on a private...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My latest article: Schleissheim Palace
I have forgotten to mention that the March issue of Majesty (Vol. 38, No. 3) is now on sale. In this issue I continue my occasional series on European palaces and this time I write about Schleissheim...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My latest article: Fabergé eggs and King Willem-Alexander
Easter will soon be upon us, and in the April issue of Majesty (Vol. 38, No. 4) I mark the occasion with an article on the imperial Fabergé eggs, the splendid works of art that were created as Easter...
View ArticleAt the road's end: Baron Niclas Silfverschiöld (1934-2017), landowner and...
The court of Stockholm has announced the death of King Carl Gustaf's brother-in-law, Baron Niclas Silfverschiöld, the husband of Princess Désirée, at the age of 82. Princess Désirée was at his side....
View ArticleCelebrations for King and Queen's 80th birthdays
The royal court has announced the programme for the official celebrations of the King and Queen's eightieth birthdays, which will take place on 9 and 10 May. On 9 May there will be some sort of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My latest article: The three Dutch male consorts
For more than a century gender roles were reversed within the Dutch monarchy as three condecutive queens reigned and their husbands filled the traditionally female role of consort to the monarch. In an...
View ArticleMy latest article: The origins of the Norwegian monarchy
I was abroad when the official celebrations of the King and Queen's 80th birthdays took place on 9-10 May, but to mark the occasion Aftenposten asked me to write an essay on the origins of the ancient...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My latest article: Oscarshall Palace
My occasional series on great palaces continues in the June issue of Majesty (Vol. 38, No. 6) with an article on Oscarshall, the neo-Gothic summer palace in Oslo that was built by King Oscar I in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My latest article: The Queen at 80
The Queen will be eighty years old tomorrow (or so her birth certificate claims), which I mark with an article in the July issue of Majesty (Vol. 38, No. 7) that looks at her struggle to carve out a...
View ArticleA thousand years of queens
Today is the Queen's eightieth birthday and to mark the occasion I have written an essay on the history of Norwegian queens (external link) which appears in Aftenposten, the country's largest...
View ArticleMy latest article: The troubled history of kings consort
Earlier this month, Prince Henrik of Denmark caused quite an uproar when he announced that he no longer wants to be buried together with his wife of fifty years, Queen Margrethe II. In a series of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My lastest article: Swedish crown jewels and the mother-in-law of Europe
In the September issue of Majesty I embark on a new series on crown jewels, starting with the exquisite Swedish ones, which are the oldest of an extant monarchy. The series will continue next month...
View ArticleHRH Prince Gabriel Carl Walther of Sweden, Duke of Dalecarlia
In a Council of State at the Royal Palace in Stockholm at 11.15 a.m., King Carl XVI Gustaf officially informed the cabinet of the birth of Prince Carl Philip's and Princess Sofia's second child, a son...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My fourth book: Holy War for the Crown of Norway
Today I am pleased to announce the upcoming publication of my fourth book, Hellig krig om Norges krone – Tronstrid, borgerkrig og korstog fra Sigurd Jorsalfare til kong Sverre (i.e. “Holy War for the...
View ArticleMy latest article: Innocent IV, the Pope who legitimised the House of Sverre
In today’s issue of the newspaper Klassekampen I write about Pope Innocent IV and his role in Norwegian history, inspired by a recent archaeological find. In connection with railway construction work...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My latest articles: Norwegian crown jewels and Mohammed bin Salman
Court intrigues are always fun, and in the October issue of Majesty (Vol. 38, No. 10) I write about the latest developments in the ongoing struggle for the Saudi succession and the new Crown Prince,...
View Article