He has studied old letters, diaries, notes and documents; he has examined royal, national and personal archives. Tore Rem's major non-fiction project over the past eight years has been to write a trilogy about King Olav V.,and the result is a rich and nuanced picture of the king, a picture that contains both recognition and surprises.
The first book in the series was titled The stranger. 1903-1940, and was launched in 2020. In the fall of 2021, volume two was published under the title The warrior. 1940-1945. The conclusion, volume three, is launched this week with the title Olav V. Lonely majesty 1946-1991.
A plethora of news
-"It feels good to have come to the end of such an exciting and laborious project. For me it has been a privilege to have access to so many archives, to find and read so many unknown sources about this life," says Tore Rem. "In addition to attempting to write King Olav's life, I wanted to make a valuable contribution to Norwegian history. There's a lot of news here, and not least new interpretations of the life of the king and the nation between 1946 and 1991. In this latest book, we have come close to ourselves in time, and it seems to me now, at the end of this great work, that this biography can also be relevant to understanding the situation our own royal family is in, besides the events of recent weeks in Britain.
A royal life marked by loss and loneliness
The third volume in the great story of Olav V is primarily about kingship itself, a lonely job where the king lacks a queen by his side. It is about court rituals, everyday routines, hectic travel, jubilee after jubilee, about a man who initially struggles to follow in his mythical father's footsteps, but who ends up as a definite success, a popular king.
Olav V. Lonely majesty is a story of continuity, of a Norway in growth and progress, but also of a royal life characterized by loss and loneliness. It is about decisions made alone, about challenges on a personal level, about downright handicaps. We have never come closer to the small Norwegian royal family, the court and their British relatives, including Queen Elizabeth II and her mother the Queen Mother. At the end of the book, the author takes a close look at the death of a king, a death that triggers an unprecedented national mourning.
