After the funeral of Norway’s King Harald, a deeply moving scene spread across the world. Ninety-four-year-old Princess Astrid was saying her final goodbye to her younger brother. No one suspected at that moment that it would be her last public appearance. Just two days later, the royal court announced that she had died.
But why was the simple Ris Church chosen for Astrid’s farewell? What was the funeral like, and who came to pay their respects to the princess? We will also tell you who her husband’s first wife was, and how Astrid used to joke about her famous antenna tiara. King Harald’s funeral drew a vast procession through the streets of Oslo, with cannon salutes and royal representatives from many countries.
Astrid’s farewell was meant to be quieter, yet the state still covered the princess’s funeral expenses. For more than seventy years, Astrid had represented the royal family and carried out official duties. Flags were flown at half-mast over government buildings in Norway. Well before the ceremony began, the first guests started arriving at Ris Church.
The princess’s coffin lay before the altar, surrounded by flowers and wreaths given by her family. Astrid’s five children arrived first. Her three daughters, Cathrine, Benedikte, and Elisabeth, and her two sons, Alexander and Carl Christian. None of them had ever been given royal titles, nor did they carry out any formal duties for the court.
They had always lived fairly private lives, focusing on their businesses and personal projects. Astrid’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren also came with them to say their last goodbye. After their mother’s death, Astrid’s five children issued a joint statement. They called her the best mother they could have had and thanked her for her love, wisdom, lively sense of humor, and many happy memories.
Among the foreign guests were Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria, Belgium’s Princess Astrid with her husband Prince Lorenz, and Luxembourg’s Princess Margaretha. Princess Märtha Louise also came with her husband and daughters. She had been very close to her aunt Astrid, and there are many family photographs of the two of them. Interestingly, among all the women present, only Märtha Louise’s youngest daughter, Emma Talulah, wore a mourning veil.
She stood out completely from the other guests. Shortly before the ceremony, King Harald, Queen Sonja, Mette-Marit, and Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra arrived. For the entire royal family, this was the second painful farewell in less than two weeks. Only days earlier, they had stood beside Harald’s coffin.
Now they had come to say goodbye to the woman who had been at his side since birth. Prince Sverre Magnus was not present. He had started his studies in Lisbon just a few days earlier and remained in Portugal this time. The Queen’s son, Marius, was also absent.
Though Sverre Magnus and Marius could not attend, their names were included on the family wreath. In that way, they took part symbolically in the ceremony bidding Astrid farewell. Among the many wreaths placed beside the coffin was one sent by Britain’s Princess Anne. On the card she had written by hand, “With love and happy memories.
” A wreath also came from Buckingham Palace. In all, more than a hundred people attended the ceremony: Astrid’s family and friends, representatives of the government and parliament, and members of the organizations under her patronage. Many had hoped to see Denmark’s Queen Margrethe, who was Astrid’s relative and longtime friend. But because of health problems and a recent hospital stay, she could not come.
Many remembered the famous photograph from 1960, when Elvis Presley knelt before the young Astrid, Margrethe, and Sweden’s Princess Margaretha. Once everyone had taken their seats, the prayers began. The ceremony highlighted Astrid’s many years of work and the dozens of organizations she had supported. With the deaths of Harald and Astrid, many charities and public projects lost their royal patrons almost at the same time.
But why was Ris Church chosen for Astrid’s farewell instead of the palace chapel? King Harald’s funeral had been held in the palace chapel. In 2012, the family had said goodbye there to Astrid’s and Harald’s older sister, Ragnhild. For Astrid, however, the family chose Ris Church over the palace.
This was no coincidence. Astrid had lived for many years in this area with her husband, Johan Ferner, and their five children. Johan is buried in the local cemetery, and after cremation, Astrid’s ashes will be laid beside him. Their love story was extraordinary, and for many years they had to fight to be together.
Johan was not of royal descent, and he was also divorced. His first wife was the artist Ingeborg Bitter Hasselberg Meyer. Their marriage had lasted three years and produced no children. The princess’s father and the Church both opposed the marriage.
Johan had been married once in the Church, so the clergy refused to marry him a second time. But Astrid insisted, and King Olav went to great trouble to find a priest willing to perform the ceremony. In the end, Astrid and Johan spent fifty-four years together and had five children. Johan was buried in the Ris Church cemetery, and at that time the family reserved three additional plots beside his grave for future funerals.
Now Astrid will be buried beside him. After the princess’s death, people did not only talk about where she would be buried. Many remembered her jewelry. The most famous piece is a small aigrette made of diamonds and rubies, from which two long antenna-like pieces rise.
It was a wedding gift to Astrid’s grandmother, Norway’s future Queen Maud. The tiara could also be altered. On its narrow diamond base could be placed either the rubies with the antennas or diamond wings. Astrid used to joke that with those antennas she could pick up radio stations in both London and Moscow at the same time.
The tiara belonged to Astrid herself, and along with her other jewelry, it will now remain with her children. Not all the jewelry she wore was her personal property. Some pieces belonged to the royal family and were only lent to Astrid for special occasions. Among these are the two best-known tiaras: the Vasa diamond tiara and the turquoise tiara.
One day, perhaps, we may see them worn by Mette-Marit or Ingrid Alexandra. Meanwhile, the farewell ceremony for the princess at Ris Church was drawing to a close. King Harald himself, together with the princess’s five children, carried her coffin out of the church. They brought it to the waiting hearse, where the family said one last goodbye to Astrid.
Harald’s help in carrying the coffin became one of the most discussed moments of the ceremony. The new king personally accompanied his aunt on her final journey, with her children at his side. With that, the formal part of the funeral came to an end. After cremation, the princess’s ashes will be laid to rest in the local cemetery beside her beloved husband, Johan Ferner.
In less than two weeks, Norway lost both Harald and Astrid. Many say it was as if the princess had been waiting to take her leave of her younger brother, and then followed him. Whether that was coincidence or something more, the farewell at Ris Church gave the family a chance to honor a woman who had devoted more than seven decades to her country and her kin.