14th – 15th February 1985
In 1964 Zambia became independent and the first President of the country was Mr Kenneth Kaunda. In 1985, twenty one years later, he still remained in office when he made a tour of the Scandinavian countries. On February 14th he landed at Fornebu Airport just outside Oslo. Here he was met by His Majesty King Olav V. It was a freezing cold day, around ten degrees below zero. But the President didn’t seem to mind the low temperatures. Then he had had a few days to get used to the cold as he started his tour in Sweden. The President and his entourage of about 20 had just finished their visit there and came in a plane from Zambia Airways from Stockholm. He was accompanied by among others his son Dr Wasa Kaunda, Zambia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr L.K.H. Goma and several Secretaries of State.
During the welcoming ceremony the President was presented to representatives from the Government and Storting (Norwegian Parliament) as well as other civil and military authorities. His Majesty’s son His Royal Highness Crown Prince Harald was also present at the reception. Because of the cold both the Royal father and the Royal son wore uniform coats over their dress uniforms as Generals in the Norwegian Army. They wore the Sash and Star of the Norwegian Royal Order of St Olav.
As soon as the welcoming ceremony had ended the President was taken to the Royal Palace in the centre of Oslo by car. Here he met Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Sonja and Her Highness Princess Astrid, Mrs Ferner. The traditional official photographs were taken in the so-called “Bird Room” and His Majesty invited the President to a private lunch. After a short rest the President and His Majesty King Olav drove to Akershus Castle where a wreath was placed at the National Monument commemorating those who fell during World War II. Akershus Castle is also where the Resistance Museum is located and the President was given a guided tour of this part of the modern history of Norway.
In the evening His Majesty hosted a splendid State Banquet back at the Royal Palace. Sadly it has not been possible to find any photos from this event, nor any descriptions of the jewels worn. But the news reports state that both Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Sonja and Her Highness Princess Astrid, Mrs Ferner were present at the banquet. So it must have been a glittering sight and hopefully one day photos will emerge to give us more information.
Zambia was at the time of the State Visit one the mayor recipients of development aid from Norway. Many projects existed and several of them were connected to agriculture. So on the second day President Kaunda, accompanied by his host His Majesty King Olav, visited the Norwegian College of Agriculture at Ås. Here he was shown around the school and got a presentation of the college’s activities. Most of the morning was spent there and both the President and His Majesty were very keen on learning more about the college and the work done there. Before they left they were given some rather curious parting gifts. His Majesty received 100 roses to be planted in the Palace Gardens while the President received 1.000 doses of ox sperm to be put to good use back in Zambia.
Back in Oslo the city council and Mayor of Oslo Mr Albert Nordengen hosted a lunch for the President and the Norwegian Royal Family at the City Hall. While the party was taking coffee they were treated to a performance of Norwegian traditional dances. One of the dancers was Her Royal Highness Princess Märtha Louise, eldest daughter of the Crown Princely Couple.
After the lunch the President went on to have political talks with the Prime Minister Mr Kåre Willoch before the day ended with a dinner hosted by the Norwegian Government at Akershus Castle. Again, no photographs have been available to establish what was worn and who was present. It is more than likely that this was a black-tie event rather than a white-tie event and so no tiaras would have been worn. But maybe the Royal Ladies, if present, wore some other nice or important jewels from their collection. The dinner marked the end of the visit as a State Visit. The next two days the President was to be the guest of the Norwegian Government before continuing to Denmark.
REGAL EVENTS 