Sonja, Queen of Norway

Queen Sonja (Photographed during the October 2003 Norwegian State Visit to Brazil).

Sonja, born Sonja Haraldsen (born July 4 1937 in Oslo) is the Queen of Norway.

A commoner, the daughter of Karl August Haraldsen, she became engaged to Crown Prince Harald of Norway (the present King Harald V) in March 1968, nine years after they began secretly dating. After the crown prince threatened to give up his rights to the throne unless he could marry Miss Haraldsen, they married on August 29, 1968, in Oslo, and she thus became Crown Princess of Norway.

Following the death of King Olav V on 17 January, 1991, Sonja became Norway's first queen in 53 years. She is now formally titled Her Majesty Queen Sonja, or simply Her Majesty the Queen. She and King Harald have two children, Princess Märtha Louise and Crown Prince Haakon.

Her Majesty is reportedly very close friends with many members of the British Royal Family, particularly Queen Elizabeth II. In 2005, Sonja became the first queen ever to visit Antarctica—the queen was there to open a Norwegian research station in the country's Antarctic dependency, Queen Maud Land.