Queen Mette-Marit is back in the frame, at least partly. In the opening weeks of her husband’s reign, Norway’s Royal House surprised royal watchers by sharing a photograph of the new queen seated at a loom. The palace released it to announce the reopening of a tapestry exhibition in Oslo.
© Patrick van KatwijkMette-Marit’s health problems have kept her largely off the official calendar, so the timing of the photo sends a clear signal. The newly crowned Queen remains a key presence in the new reign of King Haakon VIII.
The exhibit is called "Threads in Time," and it has reopened at the Queen Sonja Art Stable now that the official mourning period after King Harald’s death has ended. The show draws on the Royal Collections and gathers tapestries made between 1899 and 1955. It argues that woven works can bear witness to history and be cultural treasures themselves.
The showstoppers are the National Tapestries called the Riksteppene, the largest pieces in the show. These monumental works date to 1899 and were woven under the direction of Frida Hansen, with designs by Gerhard Munthe.
The tapestries won a gold medal at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris and hung for many years in the upper vestibule of the Royal Palace in Oslo, until they were taken down for their preservation.
It’s no accident that Mette-Marit is the face of the reopening; the queen is a devoted weaver. She’s so passionate about the craft that she keeps her own loom at Skaugum, the family’s estate.
Mette-Marit's love for weaving
© LISE ASERUDHer relationship with the craft began around 2020, when she signed up for a weaving course with a friend. The pandemic shut down the classes, so she took a loom home to Skaugum and started experimenting on her own. In a 2024 interview with Husflid, she said she'd set up the loom in a guest room, with the closets packed with materials.
“When I sit in front of the loom, everything calms down," she said. "Time passes more slowly and it’s impossible to be in a hurry. Weaving takes time, but the loom also gives something back: time and space. A refuge."
Over time, the private hobby became a public occasion. She said her only wish for her 50th birthday was to host a national gathering of weavers. In April 2024, she got it, welcoming some 260 guests to the same Art Stable.
Now the mourning is over, and the exhibition is open again. A single photograph has done what a public appearance couldn’t, putting the new queen back at the center of Norway’s royal story, right next to one of her great passions.
© Per Ole Hagen
