ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how Swedish and Norwegian views on coronations came to diverge greatly in the decades that followed. What was increasingly derided in Sweden as a useless ceremony was of some use to the Norwegians. In 1757, the political scientist Jens Schjelderup Sneedorff called coronation and anointing ‘unnecessary’ and ‘merely a ceremony’. ‘In a modern state there is really no room for a ceremony that to such an extent as a royal coronation is based on medieval ideas and circumstances’. The ceremony was repeated with even greater splendour for King Harald V and Queen Sonja on 23 June 1991. The constitution still accords the Church of Norway a privileged position, and the requirement for the king to profess the Lutheran faith was retained on the personal request of King Harald. However, the Norwegians rebelled and convened a constituent assembly, which proclaimed Norway’s independence and passed a liberal constitution.
