Princess Ragnhild, Mrs. Lorentzen

Who was Princess Ragnhild, Mrs. Lorentzen?

Ragnhild Alexandra Lorentzen, Princess of Norway was the eldest child of King Olav V of Norway and Princess Märtha of Sweden, and by birth a Princess of Norway and a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. She was the older sister of King Harald V of Norway and Princess Astrid of Norway.

Following her marriage to industrialist Erling Lorentzen, of the Lorentzen family, her honorific style was changed from Royal Highness to Highness, and she became known as Princess Ragnhild, Mrs. Lorentzen. The princess and her husband settled in Brazil shortly after their wedding in 1953, where her husband founded Aracruz Celulose. Before the birth of her younger brother, it was assumed she would become Queen of Norway in the absence of a male heir, although this would have required a constitutional amendment, as women could not inherit the throne at the time.

She was the great-granddaughter of Edward VII of the United Kingdom and thus a second cousin to Queen Elizabeth II. At the time of her death she was no. 77 in the line of succession to the British throne. Princess Ragnhild's maternal aunt was Queen Astrid of Belgium, which also made Princess Ragnhild a first cousin of Baudouin of Belgium and his brother Albert II of Belgium.