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Queen Sonja of Norway (née Sonja Haraldsen, born July 4 1937 in Oslo) is the queen consort of Norway, wife of King Harald V of Norway. She is styled HM The Queen.
A commoner, the daughter of Karl August Haraldsen and his wife, née Dagny Ulrichsen, she became engaged to then Crown Prince Harald in March 1968. They had been dating for nine years, although this had been kept secret because of opposition to her non-royal status. After the Crown Prince threatened to give up his rights to the throne unless he could marry her, the Crown Prince's father, Olav V consulted the government for advice. The result was that the couple were wed on August 29, 1968, in Oslo.
In 1982 she was awarded the Nansen Refugee Award.
Following the death of King Olav V on January 17, 1991, Sonja became Norway's first queen consort in 53 years. She and King Harald have two children, Princess Märtha Louise married to Ari Behn and Crown Prince Haakon Magnus married to Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby.
In 2005, Queen Sonja became the first queen ever to visit Antarctica—the Queen was there to open the Norwegian '''Troll''' research station in the country's Antarctic dependency, Queen Maud Land. The Queen flew in on one of the Royal Norwegian Air Force's C-130H Hercules transport aircraft, landing at Troll airfield.
King Harald V and Queen Sonja have four grandchildren: HRH Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway, Prince Sverre Magnus of Norway (born 3 December 2005), Maud Angelica Behn and Leah Isadora Behn. They also have one step-grandchild, the Crown Princess's son, Marius Borg Høiby.
In 2007, both she received the Holmenkollen medal with Frode Estil, Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, and her husband, King Harald V. They are the fourth husband-wife team and two of only eleven non-Nordic skiers to do so. This included her late father-in-law King Olav V (1968), his late father King Haakon VII (1955), Jacob Vaage, and Ingemar Stenmark, among others.