The first State visit to Ireland by a Norwegian monarch - excluding an uninvited visit 1,200 years ago - has been announced.
King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway are due to arrive in Dún Laoghaire for the three-day visit on September 17th on a tour that will include meetings with the President and the Taoiseach, as well as visits to the mayors of Dublin and Cork.
Resonances of Norway's seafaring tradition and the king's keen interest in sailing will be evident in their mode of arrival.
The couple will spend their first night in Ireland on board the royal yacht, the white-painted Norge, and the following morning will begin the formal visit by sailing from Dún Laoghaire up the Liffey, arriving in ceremony at North Wall Quay at 11.15am.
The day will include a tree-planting ceremony at Áras an Uachtaráin and a wreath-laying ceremony at the Garden of Remembrance, ending with a State dinner in Dublin Castle hosted by the President, after which the couple will spend the night in Farmleigh House.
On September 19th King Harald will give the opening address at a veterinary conference at UCD on the topic "Functional Genomics: The New Route to Food Quality and Improved Animal Health", where the Norwegian minister of fisheries and coastal affairs, Helga Pederson, will also be a speaker.
Meanwhile, Queen Sonja will be at Trinity College opening seminars on Ibsen and gender issues.
She will also view the Book of Kells before going on to open an exhibition of Ibsen portraits by Haakon Gullvaag at the National Library.
A keen art collector, she is also expected to visit the Yeats exhibition at the National Gallery in the afternoon while the king is at the National Museum.
Later, the queen will give a lecture entitled "Impressions of Norway" at the Four Seasons hotel, followed by a buffet featuring Norwegian food.
