Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway: Who is she and everything you need to know about Norway’s future queen before she moves to Australia and studies at the University of Sydney | Explainer

But that is soon to change now the 21-year-old royal is preparing to relocate to Sydney.

She’s not the first member of her family to attend school in Australia. Her mother, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, spent a year at Wangaratta High School in Victoria, in her late teens.

Princess Ingrid Alexandra will study at Sydney University full-time from August, Norway’s Royal House announced on Monday.

The princess will begin a bachelor’s degree in social science, specialising in international relations and political economy.

She will live in student housing on the university campus, the palace said.

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The college’s principal, Dr Daniel Tyler, confirmed in an email sent to students that the princess will be living in the prestigious St Andrew’s College, urging everyone to respect her privacy.

A future queen is born

The princess was born in Oslo on January 21, 2004, and will one day become Norway’s first queen regnant for more than 600 years.

The last was Queen Margrethe I, who ruled Norway, Denmark and Sweden from 1387 to 1412, under what was then known as the Kalmar Union.

Her grandfather is King Harald V, who is Europe’s oldest-reigning monarch at 88.

Princess Ingrid Alexandra is the eldest child of Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit, and she has a younger brother, Prince Sverre Magnus, 19. 

Crown Princess Mette-Marit has a son from a previous relationship, Marius Borg Høiby, who is currently facing charges of assault after his arrest in August last year.

Military service

In early April, the princess completed her military service after spending 15 months as an engineer soldier and rifleman with the Engineer Battalion in Brigade North.

Her compulsory training was initially planned for 12 months but she extended it by a further three.

Video shared by the royal house showed Ingrid riding a tank with her father in the snow and interacting with her comrades at the graduation ceremony.

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Speaking to Norwegian media at the Skjold army camp in September, she said: “I think the most important thing I have learned is that you can do much more than you think, and you are much stronger together.

“Whether it’s in a team or in a platoon or company, you get a lot more done when you’re not alone.”

Referring to the rest of her company she said: “They are incredibly good at motivating each other and doing well every day. Without them, I would not have enjoyed myself as much here.”

The tiaras worn by the women of the Norwegian royal family

Royal duties

Princess Alexandra’s move to Sydney will take the young royal away from official duties for three years, however there is the chance she could return home during semester breaks.

Despite her place as second-in-line to the throne, she has only recently begun carrying out regular appearances at public events.

In April, she joined her parents and the King and Queen for a state banquet inside the royal palace in Oslo hosted for Iceland’s visiting presidential couple.

It was the first time Princess Ingrid has taken part in such a formal occasion and the highest level of a foreign visit. For the occasion, Princess Ingrid wore a tiara gifted on her 18th birthday in 2022.

And on May 17, she joined the royal family in celebrating National Day which included an appearance on the palace balcony in traditional costume.

When the royal turned 18 in 2022, she was given an office inside the Royal Palace where members of the royal family conduct their work.

“In the future Princess Ingrid Alexandra will have more official engagements on behalf of the royal family, but in the years to come her main focus will be on her education,” the palace said in a statement at the time.

Her coming of age was celebrated across the country, with a reception hosted by the Norwegian Government and a gala banquet inside the palace.

A photo from the gala was later shared, showing four of Europe’s future monarchs including Princess Ingrid: Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands, Princess Elisabeth of Belgium, Princess Estelle of Sweden and Prince Charles of Luxembourg.

The occasion was also the first time she wore a tiara.

In a speech to guests, Ingrid thanked her family including her two brothers.

“Marius, thank you for everything I have learned from you, and for us to talk together about everything. Thank you for always protecting me,” she said.

“Magnus, you are always kind to me when I need it. Thank you for giving me a hug when I have a little extra tough day. I’m so proud to have you as brothers.”

King Harald also paid tribute to his granddaughter: “I’ve told you this many times before, Ingrid, but a grandfather is allowed to repeat his most important piece of advice over and over again: Be yourself. And trust that it is enough – always.”

Following her graduation from Elvebakken High School in 2023, Ingrid was employed as a school assistant and environmental worker at Uranienborg School.

The Norwegian royal family has a long history of attending National Day celebrations and the Holmenkollen Ski Jump, dating from 1906, and Princess Ingrid has been present at both since her birth.

The princess was just two months old when she was seen in the royal grandstand at the Holmenkollen Ski Jump in 2004.

Princess Ingrid carried out her first official royal engagement – outside of National Day celebrations and the Holmenkollen Ski Jump – when she was just five years old. She and her mother attended an event for young environmental agents for World Environment Day in 2009.

In the years since, Ingrid has increasingly focused on environmental protection and international affairs, which will now form a key part of her degree at Sydney University.

The young royal was just 11 when she carried out her first solo engagement in 2015. Princess Ingrid Alexandra had the honour of christening the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue’s new vessel Elias.

One of her most high-profile outings as a teenager came in 2018 when Princess Ingrid Alexandra , her grandmother, Queen Sonja and the Crown Prince couple, accompanied Prince William and Catherine, of Britain, to a children’s park in Oslo during their royal visit to Norway.

Sporting interests

Princess Ingrid Alexandra’s father has previously joked his daughter “would have liked to have been a pro surfer on the World Tour”, had she not been born heir to the throne.

In 2020, she was named junior surfing champion in country-wide competition with her parents both sharing photos expressing their delight at her achievements.

The young royal is also a keen skier and does kickboxing.

Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s Australian school year

Princess Ingrid Alexandra isn’t the first member of her family to study abroad.

In 1992, her mother Crown Princess Mette-Marit lived in Australia as an exchange student.

The daughter of a journalist and a bank employee, she was then known as Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby and spent around six months at Wangaratta High School in Victoria before moving onto the University of Oslo.

While she is now embraced by Norwegians following a dedicated royal career championing humanitarian causes and the arts, it wasn’t always so.

Before the wedding in 2001, Mette-Marit was known for being a single mother with a colourful past.

She met the Crown Prince at rock festival in 1999 and before they married there was much debate over whether a commoner should be allowed to marry into the royal household.

That’s despite King Harald having married a commoner too, Sonja Haraldsen, now Queen Sonja, when he was crown prince. They married in 1968 and needed special permission from his father the king to do so along with the approval from the government.

Their love story was recently made into a television drama series focusing on the turmoil that surrounded their relationship and determination to marry.

Queen Sonja was scandal-free, however, unlike Mette-Marit.

Much was made about her past relationships including her former boyfriend, who had been sentenced to prison for assault and possession of cocaine.

Days before the wedding, Mette-Marit apologised for her rebellious days in an emotional press conference.

“My youth rebellion was much stronger than many others,” Mette-Marit said, the BBC reported at the rime.

“That resulted in me living quite a wild life.”

Addressing reports about attending parties where drugs were present she said: “We overstepped the limits. It was a costly experience for me, that I took a long time to get over.

“I would like to take this opportunity to say that I condemn drugs,” Mette-Marit said, but did not say whether she had taken them herself.

“I cannot make these choices again, even though I would wish I could.”

The Royal House of Norway

The House of Glücksburg has ruled Norway since 1905 and its current monarch is King Harald V.

The now 88-year-old came to the throne in 1991, making him one of Europe’s longest reigning monarchs. He is currently the oldest monarch in Europe.

In recent years King Harald has suffered ill-health and his son and heir, Crown Prince Haakon has taken on more official duties.

In April last year, the Royal House of Norway announced King Harald would scale back his participation in official duties “out of consideration for his age”.

During a holiday to Malaysia in February, the king caught an infection and was admitted to hospital. He was later fitted with a pacemaker to compensate for a low heartrate.

Despite his age and health, the king is refusing to abdicate telling reporters in January he had taken an oath that “lasts for life”.

“It’s that simple for me,” King Harald said. “We’re at it until the bitter end.”

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