28 JANUARY 2002
Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and his wife of six months, Mette-Marit, are to get the removal men in. The photogenic couple have been given the opulent palace of Skaugum, situated to the south-east of Oslo, as their marital home – just as soon as it has been given a lick of paint.

The 140-room palace is thought to have been too large as a whole for the couple to inhabit, so the heir to the Norwegian throne and his future queen are to move into a small apartment on the second floor of the residence, situated in the agricultural zone of Asker. A former church property, it was acquired by the then Norwegian ambassador to Paris in 1909, who gifted it to Prince Olaf twenty years later as a wedding present.

The white building, which contains furniture and paintings estimated at almost half-a-million pounds sterling, is situated 200 metres above sea level. With around 1,000 m² of living space is surrounded by a breathtaking 150-hectare garden and offers unrivalled views of the Oslo fjord. It is also a working dairy and cereal farm, as well as having forestry interests.