King Harald, Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit left the royal palace in Oslo on 19 June on a comprehensive journey to Trondheim. First stop was Eidsvoll, and the trip then continued through Hamar, Otta and Åndalsnes where the royal couple and the crown prince and crown princess boarded the royal ship "Norway". The ship then took them to Kristiansund and Austråt on 20 June before finally reaching their destination 21 June for a two-day celebration of the coronation centennial.
The same royal journey was completed in 1906, though extending over a longer period of time. After the union with Sweden was dissolved on 7 June 1905, Norway got its own royal family in November the same year. Prince Carl of Denmark and his wife Princess Maud and son Alexander became Norway's first royal family in the new century. Prince Carl took the name Haakon VII after Norway's medieval kings, and his son was renamed Olav. The prime minister at the time, Christian Michelsen, welcomed the family on the cold November evening:
"For nearly 600 years the Norwegian people have not had their own king. Never has he been solely our own. We have always had to share him with others. Never has he resided among us. But where the home is, is also where the fatherland lies. Today it is different. Today Norway's young king arrives to build his future home in the nation's capital. Elected by a free people as a free man to take the lead for his country he will become our own. Once again shall the Norwegian people's king be the strong, unifying symbol for the nation's actions in the new, independent Norway."
When the king was coronated in Trondheim at the Nidaros Cathederal on 22 June 1906, he completed a process that reinstated a more than 1000 year Norwegian tradition of monarchy as a type of government. Crown Prince Haakon (32) is the same age today as his great grandfather was when he completed his journey to Trondheim. However their experiences have been vastly different.
"It must have been difficult. This kind of reception and encountering a nation in this manner must have made a sizeable impression on them. They didn't know the people like we do," said Queen Sonja.
In later years, both King Olav (1903-1991) and King Harald have been blessed in the Nidaros Cathedral, and in connection with the centennial The Restoration Workshop (NDR) has organised a permanent exhibition at the Archbishop's Palace that displays the regalia and the Norwegian coronation items. Another exhibit displays the coronation ceremony in 1906 as well as the blessings in 1958 and 1991.