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Carole Mikita ReportingNorway's Princess Martha Louise has traveled to Utah before, here for the Paralympics in 2002. She returned for a different reason this time. Carole Mikita talked with her this afternoon about her book, "Why Kings and Queens Don't Wear Crowns."
She has been described as a princess who wears her crown in her heart. Princess Martha Louise got the idea for this book when she was, as she says, "doing what princesses do."
Princess Martha Louise, Norway "I always met children with their parents pushing their children towards me going, 'Look, look, there's the princess,' and the children go, 'No, no, that's not the princess.' 'Yes, what are you on about? That's the princess.' 'No, she's not wearing a crown'. And they were so disappointed. Every time I saw all these disappointed children's eyes and said, 'Right, I have to do something about this."
Her explanation is titled 'Why Kings and Queens Don't Wear Crowns.' The story is about her great-grandparents, King Haakon VII and Queen Maud and their son, two-year-old, Prince Olav when they first traveled from Denmark to became Norway's royalty.
The book goes on to explain how they put away the crowns and mingled with the people, which each generation has done. The princess studied English literature at Oxford but she was educated in Norway's public schools, became a physical therapist and an advocate for the disabled.
Princess Martha Louise: "Because we don't have aristocracy in Norway at all, our society is very one-leveled. It's not very many different levels as a society. We try to keep it that way. Like, I have friends who have no money and I have friends who have a lot of money, and that's not what it depends on anyway."
Princess Martha Louise is married and has two little girls. Her brother will become Norway's next king.
While here, she will speak at Brigham Young University tomorrow and then at Bryant Middle School in Salt Lake, Friday. She also reading her book to children at the Salt Lake Public Library.
