Three women became Norwegian queens in this robe. Maud was the last one

Aug 23, 2023

The oldstable in the corner of the Palace Park in Oslo was transformed into QueenSonja’s Art Stable six years ago. The first thing you see when you enter is a magnificentrobe made of dark red velvet and fur, with sewn-on silver crowns.

It has beenworn by three Norwegian queens. It should have been four.

The capewas made for Queen Joséphine when she and Oscar I were to be crowned in Norwayin the mid-1800s.

“But theywere still not crowned in Norway, only in Sweden,” Sandra Lorentzen says. Sheis a curator and chose the queen's robe when sciencenorway.no asked about thebest item the Art Stable has to offer.

Joséphinewas both a duchess and a princess in Italy. Therefore, she was a good match forthe Swedish-Norwegian royal house, which needed legitimacy after a Frenchofficer was elected king a few years earlier.

But Joséphinewas Catholic. She had been promised religious freedom in Norway-Sweden, but theNorwegian bishop in Nidaros did not want to crown a Catholic queen, accordingto royalcourt.no. As a result, she never got to wear her newly madecoronation robe.

The robe isnow on display along with other items from the Royal Palace. Most of them arestill in use but are now on loan to the Art Stable.

“We havechosen to highlight the craftsmen who made what we exhibit. Many of these professionsare dying out or are worthy of conservation,” Lorentzen says.

Furrier’strade is one such craft. It involves designing and sewing garments made of fur.In the past, furrier was a common profession in Norway, but today there areonly five fur workshops left, according to snl.no(link in Norwegian).

“Furrier’strade is an ancient craft that dates back to the Stone Age. People dressed inanimal skins to face all kinds of weather,” Lorentzen says.

Today, wehave stopped wearing fur, and fur farming was banned in 2019.

“Furrier’strade is a dying profession, but they still repair existing coats,” she says.

It was theSwedish furrier Frans Willibald Hellbacker who made the queen's coronation robe.

“We don'tknow much about him, but he made all the Swedish and Norwegian coronationrobes. Presumably, he had some kind of royal warrant,” Lorentzen says.

It took 1,500Siberian stoats to make the ermine fur on the collar, along the front, and onthe underside of the train.

Underneaththe fur robe, the queens wore a dress, while the kings wore uniforms.

“When I sawthe coronation of King Charles in England, I thought it must have been very hotfor him with all those layers,” she says.

The firstto wear the queen's coronation robe was Queen Louise.

She and CharlesIV were first crowned in Sweden and then in Nidaros Cathedral in Norway in 1860.

At thattime, 560 years had passed since the last queen was crowned in Norway. It wasQueen Eufemia, together with King Haakon V Magnusson, in 1299.

Louise wasa member of the royal family in the Netherlands. The royal connection, alongwith a substantial dowry, made her a suitable match for Charles.

Before thecoronation, Louise traveled around Norway. In the king's speech at thecoronation dinner, he said that she had visited places where no queen had beenbefore, according to a book about the royal couple from 1873.

The samebook offers an explanation of why Louise is not so well-known today: "Weshall be brief about Queen Louise. It is in the nature of things that a woman,in general, does not appear as prominently in public events. She ... neversought to play any prominent role in life."

But she issaid to have kept a close eye on politics, in addition to enduring herhusband's notorious infidelity, accordingto snl.no (link in Norwegian).

King CharlesIV died 12 years after the coronation in Trondheim, only 46 years old. Hisbrother, Oscar II, took over the Swedish-Norwegian throne.

His wife, QueenSophia, thus became the next to wear the queen's coronation robe in NidarosCathedral in 1873.

Sophia wasled into Nidaros Cathedral by a large entourage with the Prime Minister at the forefront."She was very pale and not very well-adapted," according to Anne-MarieRiiber's book about Queen Sophia. But the procession was magnificent.

The queenwas dressed in a white satin dress with fringes and silver cords. It matchedthe crowns on the robe. The train was carried by employees at the court. The queenwas "very moved" during the three-hour ceremony.

Sophia camefrom an ancient noble lineage in Germany and had four sons with Oscar II. Sheis the great-grandmother of our King Harald.

Sophia waspolitically interested, her husband's adviser, and read up to 20 newspapers aday, accordingto snl.no (link in Norwegian). And she often visited Norway, sometimes forextended periods.

She becamethe last Norwegian-Swedish queen.

King Oscar IIwas constantly in conflict with the Norwegian Parliament (Storting), which wasno longer satisfied with a subordinate role in the Swedish-Norwegian union. Incase after case, he vetoed more Norwegian independence. Finally, in 1905, theStorting passed a resolution declaring the union dissolved. Oscar II saw it asa personal defeat, according to snl.no(link in Norwegian).

In 1905,the Danish Prince Carl was elected king of independent Norway. He took the nameHaakon VII and was crowned the following year in Nidaros Cathedral, togetherwith Queen Maud.

It was nota foregone conclusion. Many believed that coronations were outdated andundemocratic. Therefore, the coronation was toned down, accordingto royalcourt.no. However, the robes were kept.

Thepainting of Haakon and Maud's coronation differs from the two other coronationpaintings hanging in the Royal Palace.

QueenLouise and Sophia are peripheral in the paintings of their coronations; youalmost have to search to find them. The kings have the central position.

In thecoronation painting of Haakon and Maud, the focus is on the queen, while theking is placed to the side. This is probably not accidental, according toSandra Lorentzen.

Althoughthe people had voted for continued monarchy, and Haakon had been chosen as king,Maud was of great significance.

“Maud was aprincess in the powerful British Empire. They also had a son, Crown PrinceOlav, so the line of succession was secure. There was probably a lot ofsymbolism in presenting the queen in that way,” Lorentzen says.

Thecoronation paintings are also historical documents. We can see the restorationof Nidaros Cathedral, which guests were present, and the coronation itself. Thecurators at the Art Stable can learn about the queen's coronation robe.

“Althoughthey document history, they are just as much works of art. Artists can takeliberties. Queen Sophia's robe collar has three rows of ermine; that's probablynot accurate,” she says.

Only twoyears after the coronation of Haakon and Maud, the tradition ended. In 1908,the Storting decided to repeal the constitutional provision that Norway’s kingshould be crowned in Nidaros Cathedral.

“Norway wasone of the last countries in Europe to stop coronations. It was consideredundemocratic. But King Olav wanted a connection to the church and chose aconsecration, as did King Harald and Queen Sonja,” Lorentzen says.

King Olavwas consecrated in Nidaros Cathedral in 1958, but without the coronation robeand without his queen. Princess Märtha had passed away four years earlier.Harald and Sonja were consecrated in 1991.

“England isthe only country that still practices coronations,” Lorentzen says.

Thus, QueenMaud became the last to wear the coronation robe.

During hercoronation, Maud received a horse as a gift from her parents, King Edward VIIand Queen Alexandra of Great Britain. It probably lived in the stable where therobe is now on display.

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Translated by Alette Bjordal Gjellesvik.

Read theNorwegian version of this article on forskning.no

References:

Mindebladefra Deres Majestæter Kong Oscars og Dronning Sofies kroninger i Stockholm ogThrondhjem (Memories from the coronations of Their Majesties King Oscar andQueen Sophia in Stockholm and Trondheim). Waldm.Kriedt. 1873.

Riiber,A.M. ‘Dronning Sophie’ (Queen Sophia), Lutherstiftelsen, 1958.