Photo: Kristin Bae Mysen
Last weekend my husband and I enjoyed being tourists in our own capital Oslo. Visiting the Royal Palace on a guided tour was really interesting, and the best part of course was standing inside by the palace balcony viewing the whole of Oslo, and knowing that right there the Royal family are exchanging waves and greeting to the people. I was glad that I had taken the time to do a bit of history reading before visiting such as;
During four hundred years Norway was a part of Denmark from 1380 – 1814. Unluckily Denmark-Norway was on the losing side in the Napoleonic Wars and Denmark was forced to give Norway away as a present to Sweden which was a country that had been fighting Napoleon all the way. The prince of Sweden at that time was the French Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, known as Carl III Johan, who then became the king of Sweden-Norway. He was popular in Norway mostly because he accepted the Norwegian Constitution dated 17. of May 1814. He often visited the country and therefore initiated to build a royal palace in Oslo. Today he is proudly seated on the horse in front of the the Royal Palace, and the main street of Oslo, Karl Johans gate, is named after him. More of the Royal history here.
Watch the film or just the interior pictures from the castle here.
