Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon visits Minnesota to highlight close ties
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Minnesota is getting a brush with royalty this week as the crown prince of Norway visits the state to mark 200 years since the first organized Norwegian emigration to the U.S.
Crown Prince Haakon — heir to the throne of Norway — arrived in the Twin Cities on Monday night and took part in a series of events on Tuesday. That included a stop at Norway House in Minneapolis and a meeting with Gov. Tim Walz at the State Capitol in St. Paul.
A goal of the trip is to highlight the continued close ties between Norway and the U.S. — and specifically Minnesota, where hundreds of thousands of residents have Norwegian ancestry.
At the meeting with Walz, Haakon called that the “backbone” of the relationship between the two nations — noting how Norwegian Americans “are very proud of their heritage, and it makes me proud to see how they take care of their culture and their history — and I think that is something that we can build upon.”
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He noted the business ties between Minnesota and Norway, as well as more than 50 years of cooperation and shared training between the Norwegian military and the Minnesota National Guard.
Of the partnership between Norway and Minnesota, Walz said: “It matters, and it is stronger now than it has ever been.”
“We in Minnesota recognize how important that immigration was, because it was foundational to who we are as Minnesotans,” Walz told the crown prince. “We are incredibly proud of that heritage. We’re proud of the cultural heritage, we’re proud of the economic heritage and we’re proud of the relationships that have been maintained over all of these years.”
Norway House
Earlier in the day, Haakon and the Norwegian delegation visited Norway House in Minneapolis, where a welcoming committee — donning traditional Norwegian folk dresses and waving a sea of red-and-blue flags — greeted their arrival.
The crown prince toured Norway House’s new Saga Center, an interactive exhibit with information on researching Norwegian genealogy and virtual tours of Norwegian cities, aimed at bringing Norwegian Minnesotans closer to their ancestry.
Haakon’s mother, Queen Sonja, visited Norway House in 2022 — and the crown prince said she brought word of it back to Norway.
“She spoke very warmly about this complex after she attended the official opening three years ago,” he said. “She described it as a home away from home, and now I understand what she meant.”
Norway House leaders said that’s an important role to play for Minnesotans with Norwegian ancestry. Christina Carleton is the CEO and president of Norway House. She’s originally from Oslo, and came to Minnesota about 20 years ago. She said a visit from the crown prince still means a lot for her community.
“They still look to Norway as they have Norway in their hearts. Their ancestors came from there, they settled here in Minnesota. They left Norway when it was difficult times there,” Carleton said.
Haakon told the crowd at Norway House that he’s glad to see the connections between Minnesota and Norway still going strong.
“Here in Minnesota, we see how American entrepreneurship and Norwegian ideas complement each other and lead to real results every day,” he said.
Other stops
On Monday, Haakon visited Luther College and the Vesterheim museum in Decorah, Iowa, before traveling to the Twin Cities.
He’ll wrap up his Minnesota visit on Wednesday with a stop at St. Olaf College in Northfield before traveling on to New York for events on Thursday.
The Norwegian Embassy to the U.S. said the purpose of the U.S. trip is to “highlight the deep cultural and historical ties between the two countries and promote cooperation in business, education and culture.”
Speaking at Luther College on Monday, Haakon asked, “What ties our people together across oceans?”
“I believe it is the stories that we share, that we tell ourselves and that we tell each other — stories of courage and curiosity, stories of hardship and hope, stories that remind us who we are and who we aspire to be,” he told the crowd gathered on campus for a ceremony in which he was awarded an honorary doctorate.
He’s being accompanied on the trip by a delegation of Norwegian political and business leaders.
The Minnesota State Demographic Center reported that, as of 2018, more than 800,000 state residents reported having Norwegian ancestry — the second-largest group, behind German ancestry.
The Norwegian royal family has made a number of visits to Minnesota over the years. Haakon previously visited St. Olaf College in 2005, and Queen Sonja of Norway made a trip to Minnesota — including a visit with Walz — in 2022.
King Harald V and Queen Sonja also visited the state in 2011, including a stop at St. Olaf College, as well as Duluth to rededicate the landmark Enger Tower.
