Heirs to Scandinavian thrones to meet in Arctic

The heirs to Scandinavia's thrones will meet in Norway's Arctic archipelago of Svalbard in June as part of International Polar Year, the Norwegian royal palace announced Friday.

Prince Haakon of Norway, Princess Victoria of Sweden and Prince Frederik of Denmark, all heirs to the thrones in their countries, are to visit the islands, located some 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the North Pole, from June 21-27.

Aboard an ice-breaker
"Wonderful, said Olav Orheim, of the Polar Year's Norwegian secretariat. "It is unique for the three heirs to the thrones to join up and mark the International Polar Year like this."

The three royals are patrons in their countries for International Polar Year (2007-2008), which is aimed at enhancing knowledge about the icy region.

The three royals will spend most of their visit onboard the Swedish research vessel Oden, an ice-breaker, where polar researchers will brief them on recent findings. They will also visit Ny-Ålesund, a small community in northwestern Svalbard where many countries have scientific bases.

Foto: Det svenske polarsekretariatet
Den svenske isbryteren Oden skal ta tronarvingene ut i isen. Båten er bygd i 1988 og var første ikke-atomdrevne skip som nådde den geografiske Nordpolen 7.september 1991.

Orheim said his biggest worry is the three royals getting seasick.

"As an icebreaker, Oden has a rather special shape to its hull, and can rock quite a lot in heavy seas," he said.

Research platform
Svalbard, which includes Spitsbergen, is about 500 kilometers (300 miles) north of the Norwegian mainland, and it is less than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the North Pole.

A treaty signed in Paris in 1920 placed Svalbard under Norwegian sovereignty, but gave signatory states equal rights to the archipelago's resources and allowed them to conduct scientific research there.

Svalbard is also home to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault where seeds from maize, rice, wheat, beans, sorghum, cowpeas, soybeans and other crops are deposited in three chambers in a vault blasted into solid rock.

All in all 15 norwegian research projects under the IPY initiative use Svalbard partly or fully as their base for research.

Large picture: Oden is one of seven icebreakers operated by the Swedish Maritime Administration. It is designed for escort ice-breaking and for Arctic research operations. ODEN is very flexible and can carry scientific equipment, container labs, frozen storage, containers, deep drilling equipment for geological purposes, etc.