Celebration of Princess Ingrid Alexandra's 18th birthday: The Princess' speech

Your Majesties
Your Royal Highnesses
President of the Storting
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
Dear family and friends
Ladies and gentlemen,

To begin with, I would like to thank the Prime Minister and the rest of the Government once again for the fantastic event at Deichman library last night. I could not have received a better gift.

I would also like to thank my grandmother and grandfather for giving me this lovely party.

And I would like to thank all of you who have travelled from all over Europe and the United States to be here today. I really appreciate your taking the time to come to Norway for this celebration. The last couple of years we have not been able to see each other much, so I have really been looking forward to having you all here today.

Mamma and Pappa, thank you for everything you have given me.

Mamma,
We can talk about anything and everything. It makes me glad that we can lie on the sofa and watch series together.

I so appreciate everything that you do for me.

Pappa,
Thank you for taking us out skiing and surfing and other great activities. You always help sort things out and stay calm when the rest of us aren’t.

I am enormously grateful for your help and support, and I know that you will always will be there for me.

I love you both very much.

Dear Marius and Magnus.
You are my safety net. I know I can always come to you when something is bothering me.

Marius,
Thank you for everything I have learned from you, and for being able to talk to me about everything. Thank you for always being there to protect me.

Magnus, you are always nice to me when I need it. Thank you for the hugs that you usually give me when I have had an extra tough day.

I am so proud to have you both as my brothers.

Dearest Grandpa, I always have such a good time when I am with you. Thank you for the evenings on the Royal Yacht, where we sit together and watch sports and cowboy movies. And thank you most of all for always having a good joke ready when the mood gets a little gloomy.

Dearest Grandma Sonja, thank you for bringing us along on so many interesting trips and adventures. Especially for all the outdoor hikes and for the stories and goodnight songs that Maud and I, anyway, will remember forever.

And dearest Grandma Marit, thank you for all the fun things you have told us. Thank you for always coming to take care of us children, and for all of our enjoyable evenings of sitting and chatting.

My dear aunts and uncles and cousins,
Every since I was a little girl, you have made me feel safe. I am very grateful to you for that.

And finally, I would like to thank all my friends.
Thank you for always making it so much fun to be together and for always cheering me up.

It makes me very proud to call all of you my family and my friends.
You all mean the world to me.

One of the best things about Norway is our democracy.
That we are free to believe in what we want to.
That we are free to say what we want to.
That we are free to love who we want to.

I am so lucky to have grown up in Norway. I have been able to experience our magnificent nature, surfing at Unstad, hot summer days along the southern coast, and snow-capped mountains in Røldal.

And not least, I have been able to meet so many wonderful people who live in different parts of our country.

We are lucky to live in a country that is constantly evolving.
Where we have trust in one another and in our authorities.
In Norway, we are committed to combating climate change.
We are committed to diversity.
We are committed to freedom of expression.

And most importantly, we are determined to continue finding better solutions than the ones we already have.

We all have our place in this society.
We are different, we have been given different tasks, and we know how to do different things.

Together we make up the Norway we love so much.

Thank you.