Monday 9 April 2012

Strong approval ratings for most Norwegian royals

Two days ago Dagbladet published an opinion poll (conducted by polling institute Ispos MMI) which shows great approval ratings for most members of the Norwegian royal family. No less than 93 % think the King does a good job, while only 1 % think he does a bad job. 81 % believe the Queen represents the country well, while 89 % say so about the Crown Prince and 75 % of the Crown Princess.
Less good are the results for Princess Märtha Louise and her husband Ari Behn. 25 % think the Princess represents the country well, while 27 % think she does a bad job and 43 % ranks her as average. 5 % think Ari Behn represents the royal family well; 57 % that he does so badly.
The other members of the royal family are not included in the poll, probably because they are either too young or not well enough known to the general public.
The bad result for Princess Märtha Louise should probably be seen in connection with the ongoing controversy over her use of her royal title for promoting her angel “school” and books about communicating with angels. Although this is strictly speaking not linked to her royal role, it is understandable if people include it in their evaluation of how she represents the royal family as nearly everything a princess does will inevitably reflect on the royal family. Furthermore, were she to be evaluated solely by how she carries out her public engagements there would not be much to go by, as she performed only seven official engagements in 2010.
Including Ari Behn may seem a bit odder, as he does not carry out any royal engagements except when accompaying his wife.

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