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Norwegians admire King Harald most in world

Norwegians admire King Harald more than any other man, a new survey by the pollsters YouGov has revealed, with the country ranking their monarch above such luminaries as Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama.

Published: 3 February 2015 13:52 CET
For Norwegian women, it seems the best way to win the adulation of your countrymen is to take to the trails in winter. 
 
Cross country skiers Marit Bjørgen and Therese Joahaug were the two most admired Norwegian women according to the survey, taking second place and fourth place respectively after Pakistani education activist and Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was their most admired in the world.  
 
The force of Norwegians' love for their royals is nothing new, and is often put down to the unifying role exiled King Haakon VII played for the nation during the country's occupation by Nazi Germany between 1940 and 1945. 
 
Norway was the only country apart from the UK to place a reigning monarch in the top position, although Denmark ranked their Crown Prince Mary as their most admired woman, followed by Queen Margarethe. 
 
Notably, King Carl XVI Gustaf, regarded as a source of embarrassment by many Swedes, failed to make it into his country’s list of admired men. Crown Princess Viktoria was however Sweden's second most admired woman after Malala Yousafzai.
 
YouGov interviewed more than 25,000 people in 23 countries for the survey.  Hollywood star Angelina Jolie came out as the world's most admired woman, beating Yousafzai by quite some margin.  Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates was the world’s most admired man. 
 
One of the stranger results was the strong showing of Hong Kong film actor Jackie Chan, who was ranked the fourth most admired man in the world. 

 
The other Norwegians to feature in the country’s top ten lists were: Gro Harlem Brundtland, the former prime minister, who was the fifth most admired woman; Nato leader Jens Stoltenberg, who was the fifth most admired man; reigning prime minister Erna Solberg, who was the tenth most admired woman; and chess grand master Magnus Carlsen, who was the eighth most admired man. 
 
 
 
 
 

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SEX

Spanish king in 10-year affair with German

Spain's ex-king Juan Carlos had an affair with a German aristocrat for the last 10 years of his reign, according to a new book about the monarch's "double life" that is flying off Spanish bookshelves.

Published: 23 April 2015 11:44 CEST
Spanish king in 10-year affair with German
Former king Juan Carlos of Spain Photo: DPA

The king, who gave up the throne in June 2014 in favour of his son Felipe, was in a romantic relationship with Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein and "for a long time" thought of divorcing his wife Sofia, author Ana Romero said at the book's presentation in Madrid on Wednesday.

"They were a couple pure and simple," she said, before adding that members of the former king's entourage had discouraged him from getting a divorce.

"What do you see (in the book)? Well, the double life which Juan Carlos led during a long time, a double life which obviously has not gone well."

Romero, a former royal correspondent for the El Mundo daily, said the pair met in 2004. She told journalists at the book launch that reports suggest their illicit relationship ended shortly after his abdication.

Her 424-page book, called "Final de Partida" or "End Game", focuses on the last four years of Juan Carlos's reign when his popularity slumped. It is based on interviews with about around a hundred anonymous sources.

The first print run of 25,000 copies nearly sold out Wednesday less than 24 hours since the book hit stores and its publishers have already ordered a second print run.

"It is a chronicle of the end of an era, when Spaniards turned their backs on Juan Carlos," said Romero.

The 77-year-old former king's friendship with Sayn-Wittgenstein, who is divorced from the German prince whose name she bears, emerged in 2012 when Juan Carlos was flown home from Botswana on a private jet after suffering an injury while on an expensive elephant-hunting holiday.

The German woman, who is 28 years younger than Juan Carlos, was among those accompanying the monarch on the trip, which sparked outrage at a time when Spain was grappling with record unemployment and risked needing an international bailout.

Juan Carlos, who won respect for his role in guiding Spain's transition to democracy after the death of longtime dictator General Francisco Franco in 1975, made an unprecedented apology for his behaviour but his popularity took a serious hit.

Romero said the uproar over the hunting trip, combined with a string of health problems and a corruption scandal implicating his youngest daughter Cristina, created the "perfect storm" which pushed Juan Carlos to abdicate.

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