Maud of Wales - Queen of Norway

Queen of Norway

Queen Maud never lost her love of Britain, but she quickly adapted to her new country and duties as a queen consort. Maud played a strong and dominant role within the court and family, but a discreet role in public.

During the first years in Norway, she and her spouse were photographed in Norwegian folk costumes and enjoying winters sports such as skiing to give them a Norwegian appearance in the eyes of the public. She disliked representation but performed her role as a queen with great care, and used clothes and jewelry to make a regal impression. She supported charitable causes, particularly those associated with children and animals, and gave encouragement to musicians and artists. Among her projects was Dronningens Hjelpekomité (The Queen's Relief Comity) during WWI. She supported the feminist Katti Anker Møller's home for unwed mothers (1906), which was regarded as radical, designed furniture for the benefit of the Barnets utstilling (The Children's Exhibition) in 1921, and sold photographs for charitable purposes.

Maud continued to regard Great Britain as her true home also after her arrival in Norway, and visited Great Britain every year. She did, however, also appreciate some aspects of Norway, such as the winter sports, and she supported the idea to bring up her son as a Norwegian. She learned to ski and arranged for an English garden at Kongsseteren, the Royal lodge overlooking the nation's capital Oslo. She is described as reserved as a public person but energetic and with a taste for practical jokes as a private person. Her influence over her spouse and politics is not much examined, but she is described as a forceful and dominant person within the royal court, though her public role was less visible.

Queen Maud's last public appearance in Britain was the coronation of her nephew, King George VI, in May 1937. She sat in the royal box at Westminster Abbey next to her sister-in-law Queen Mary and her niece Mary, Princess Royal, as part of the official royal party.

Maud also acquired a reputation for dressing with fashionable chic. An exhibition of numerous items from her elegant wardrobe was held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2005 and published in the catalogue Style and Splendour: Queen Maud of Norway's Wardrobe 1896-1938.