High above the valleys of Switzerland, Queen Sonja of Norway found the one thing a grieving queen rarely gets: total privacy. Norwegian press reports that the 89-year-old Queen booked out an entire hotel for herself and a small party made up of her two closest friends.
© Per Ole HagenAccording to the Norwegian outlet Se og Hør, Queen Sonja's getaway took place in mid-October at Berghuus Radons, a boutique mountain hotel in the Swiss Alps. The booking of the entire hotel was a reprieve from two months of public mourning in the wake of the death of her husband, King Harald V. After the tributes and the state funeral, the reign of his son, King Haakon, is underway.
Sonja remains an active part of the Crown, though her role has changed.
Old friends and fresh mountain air
© ODD ANDERSENQueen Sonja didn’t make the trip alone. She traveled with two of her closest friends, Margrethe Bergersen, 90, and Ilmi Horn, 88, along with her security detail. Se og Hør reports the three women flew to Zurich on October 18 and traveled on from there to the traditional Alpine retreat. A day earlier, the queen had been on duty at home, opening an art exhibition.
Once in Switzerland, she swapped royal engagements for two of her greatest passions: nature and hiking. After a difficult conclusion to her summer, the mountains offered her a genuine breather.
Berghuus Radons sits in the canton of Graubünden (also known as the Grisons), in the heart of the Alps. Its setting is the main attraction, blending seclusion, understated luxury and serious fine dining. The hotel, located in a carefully restored former mountain house, has 12 rooms and a history of over 80 years. When the Swiss newspaper Blick contacted its hosts, they would neither confirm nor deny the royal visit, saying their guests’ privacy comes first.
Why the Alps feel like home
© Getty ImagesFor Sonja, Switzerland is familiar ground. As a young woman, she lived there while studying in Lausanne, and the mountains have always been her refuge. “In the mountains, my mind clears," she told the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten in 2012.
The Alpine break comes before more public engagements. On Thursday, October 29, Queen Sonja will open the exhibition Munch-Picasso at the Museo Picasso Málaga, a show that unites over 100 works by Edvard Munch and Pablo Picasso. She’ll be joined by Lubna Jaffery, Norway’s Minister of Culture and Equality, and Anne Lindboe, Mayor of Oslo. Rather than a retrospective, the exhibition puts the two artists in dialogue, exploring the connections, parallels and contrasts between two of the most important figures in modern art.
The following day, the queen will visit the Norwegian school in Malaga, where she’ll meet with staff and get a close look at the school’s activities and its importance to the Norwegian community in the region.
© Getty Images
