New Queen of Norway has Wangaratta ties

A former Wangaratta High School exchange student has become the new Queen of Norway, after her husband ascended to the throne late last week. Queen Mette-Marit's husband, King Haakon VIII, was sworn in as king this week, following the 28 August death of his father, King Harald V. However, it is understood the new queen consort was unable to attend Wednesday's swearing-in ceremony for her husband, due to complications from a lung transplant she underwent in June, as a result of her 2018 pulmonary fibrosis diagnosis. Queen Mette-Marit's connection to Wangaratta was formed in 1990, when she spent a year as an exchange student at Wangaratta High School, then as Mette Hoiby. Wangaratta resident Linda D’Agostino was a year 11 student at Wangaratta High School alongside Mette-Marit that year. She remembered her as "a lovely girl, really friendly and kind, and she made lots of friends during her time at the high school". Linda said she recalled being in a biology class with the now-queen. "She was always up for a chat and a laugh, and I have always followed her story over the years with interest," she said. The close links she developed during her stay in Wangaratta were on display last year, when - as Crown Princess Mette-Marit - the future queen visited Australia to see her daughter Princess Ingrid Alexandra, who was attending university in Sydney. Wangaratta High School principal Dave Armstrong said the new queen consort had made it a priority to also visit Wangaratta during her Australian trip, spending time with old friends and making a private visit to the school. "She wanted no attention drawn to her, so with that in mind, we had a surprise visit; it speaks to how valuable and important that time in Wangaratta was to her," Mr Armstrong said. "She has deep friendships and connections with people in this town, and I know she was emotionally affected in a positive way by being here. "We were able to show her some of the buildings she was in during her time as a student, and her husband and a school friend were with her during the visit. "She had very positive memories and was very connected to the school, so being here was obviously a formative experience for her." Mr Armstrong said that, to the best of his knowledge, Wangaratta High School was one of the only public schools in Australia to have had a future royal as a student (on the private school side, King Charles III attended Geelong Grammar's Timbertop campus, near Mansfield, for two terms when he was 17). Queen Mette-Marit is mentioned on Wangaratta High School's website among its notable alumni, along with musician Nick Cave, Paralympian Nick Morris, AFLW player Darcy Vescio, and former federal MP Jenny Macklin. She is understood to be close to Denmark's King Frederik X and Queen Mary; like Mary, Queen Mette-Marit was a commoner before her marriage to then-Prince Haakon in 2001, and Queen Mary's Australian roots would no doubt deepen the connection. She is also Wangaratta's second connection to royalty; Wangaratta-based Simon Abney-Hastings (considered by some to be the rightful heir to the throne of England) was the only Australian citizen to take an official role in the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in May 2023. As the 15th Earl of Loudon, he continued a long-held tradition by presenting the Great Golden Spurs to the new monarch at the coronation. The earl inherited his title following the 2012 passing of his father Michael - the 14th Earl of Loudon, who came to Australia in the 1960s. He is descended from George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, the brother of King Richard III. While leading historians have argued that the Duke of Clarence should have been King, being the legitimate first son of Richard Duke of York, and therefore that Simon Abney-Hastings has the right to inherit the throne of England, the earl does not hold this view, and has been a loyal supporter of Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III. Among his most recent activities, the earl attended, as patron, July's 2026 Victorian Solo Piping Championships held at Presbyterian Ladies College in Burwood.

New Queen of Norway has Wangaratta ties

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