The Norwegian royal family’s ‘humble’ life: King Harald and Queen Sonja have a net worth of US$30 million – and spend it on public transport and joint parties
The UK royals are arguably the most popular royal family in the world. Their lives are synonymous with privilege, prestige and fortune.
To give you a quick primer, the key members of the royal family consist of King Harald, Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon, who is married to Crown Princess Mette-Marit. The crown prince has two children, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus. The king and queen have a daughter, Princess Märtha Louise.
Despite their smaller income, the Norwegian royal family have a reputation for being “cool”and living relatively normal lives.
Here’s how they spend their wealth:
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King Harald loves the active lifestyle
They maintain nine stately residences
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The royal children went to public schools
Since private schooling is not widespread in Norway, Crown Prince Haakon and Princess Märtha Louise attended ordinary public schools just like everyone else.
They like to be one with “the people” and travel on public transport
While some royal families make a fuss about security, entourage and exclusivity, the Norwegian royals have been spotted taking public transport and even get on regular domestic flights just like everyone else, according to Bright Side. It’s not uncommon to sit next to a prince on a flight or train ride in Norway.
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They celebrate milestones like birthdays in private and even have joint parties
In the realm of royal life, it doesn’t get any thriftier than this.
King Harald and his family like to hold intimate birthday celebrations, and the king’s birthday is only marked as a public holiday when it’s a special anniversary. Typically, however, King Harald and Queen Sonja, who were both born in 1937, hold joint celebrations and like to lump big milestones such as their 80th birthdays and the 25th year of the king’s reign into one event.
- Queen Elizabeth and co. cost US$500 million a year to upkeep with 26 lavish mansions – but Norway’s royals cost US$7.3 million and only have nine homes
- King Harald is a three-time Olympian who even won second prize at the Sailing World Championships in Toronto at 79, and went on a surfing holiday for his 80th birthday
