With regards to the recent wedding-debates here

[pengolodh_sc]

At the royal wedding in Trondheim today, Ari Behn, the groom, gave a 
speech during the wedding-dinner which was of the more impressive 
samples of flowery language in modern Norway - and he pulled it off, 
making it sound just right for the occasion.  To give you a taste of 
it, below is my feeble attempt of a translation: 

----

Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, MR. President of the 
Parliament, Dear Märtha.

Dear Märtha, We met in our dreams when we were little.  Let us keep 
meeting in our dreams.  It will make the time we shall now have 
together, twice as long.  

Thank You, King Harald.  Thank you for those good and warm words we 
were given for sustenance, they bring strength and nourishment to 
Märtha and me on the long journey that is now ahead of us.  

Dear Sonja and Harald.  First I must thank you for being the best 
parents in the world.  For the like of your daughter I have never 
met!  Yes, it is quite obvious whose daughter she is.  You are two 
quite unique persons.  And I am not then thinking about the role you 
have as our country's beloved King and Queen.  I am thinking of the 
unique strength of heart and goodness you possess.

I thank you for having from the first moment met me with trust and a 
friendliness which deeply moved me.  Thank you for having taken the 
time to learn to know me; it has given me safety when I needed it as 
most.

To fall in love with the Princess of the nation is one thing.  But to 
get her yes ensures that a whole nation keenly pays attention to the 
beat of our love, as though it is a piece of music played before open 
doors.  Thank you that you as my parents in law to be have warmly 
taken care of me when I felt as though I was stumbling and loosing my 
footing.  

I have come to love you both, and I look very much forward to 
spending more time with you in the years that will follow.  I also 
thank you with all my heart for this magnificent celebration you have 
created for us!  

Dear Mette-Marit and Haakon.  You radiate of common wisdom and 
vitality.  Thank you for the advice and comfort you gave me when it 
became clear for the near family that Märtha and I wish to share our 
lives with each other.  The conversations with you two have a quite 
special place in my heart, and I thank you for having welcomed me 
with insight and joy.  

There was of course not much joy to be seen when the Crown Prince 
completely wiped the deck with me on a skiing-trip in the mountains.  
But I can tell you all that it gave a valuable insight.  "Race you to 
the top" is an excellent exercise to do with unfit brothers in law.  
Thank you for that race, dear Haakon.  It taught me that you are cut 
from the same cloth as your sister, and this bodes well for Easter-
holidays and times to come.  
A wise man once said that it is just the same in marriage as when 
skiing in the mountains:  You have to be strong in the up-hills, or 
you'll crash straight out of the track in the first downhill turn.

Dear Mother and Father.  Thank you for after first having given me 
life, you have not a single moment not taken me seriously.  It is the 
greatest value a child may be given from home.  It is this spring 
which is the cause of me standing here as the one I am, and for this 
I thank you.  

Dear Anja and Espen!  Thank you for being the open and talented 
persons that I am so proud to call sister and brother.  I also will 
thank with the deepest gratitude the rest of my family which is 
gathered around us.  You have all been part of giving me a childhood 
and growing up filled with cultural and creative values.  

Dear Märtha.  Never have I met a person with greater strength than 
you.  Never have I met a human with greater strength of heart than 
you.  Never have I seen a woman so intensely beautiful as you.  You 
radiate an irresistible mixture of wisdom and beauty, grace and 
determination.  You are irresistibly sparkling and forceful, playful 
and serious at the same time.  Yes, you are irresistible when you 
always let me finish a discussion with these words:  Yes, my darling, 
you are entirely right!

With love's light wings did I o'er-perch these walls; for stony 
limits cannot hold love out, and what love can do that dares love 
attempt.  These are the words of Romeo, he who lost his beloved 
Juliet.  A bitter misunderstanding made it so they could not be 
joined in life.  An exaggeration and thoughtless lie may often make 
love between two humans an impossibility.  Even in our time, which in 
moments may alter itself to times we like to think of as masterfully 
painted intrigues of Shakespeare's.   There were nights when I 
thought ten years was the measure of time for a wandering of the 
deserts for each of us, awaiting what has happened today.  What 
caused the tangle to be unravelled was the pure and clear tone 
singing through the night.  Ten years is not an impossibly long 
wait.  We will manage this too, as long as it will be us.  

Dear Märtha, You are like the light that conquers darkness.  To know 
that you exist, makes me know that God too is present.  When I am 
with you I no longer fear death.  Through you, Märtha, life is 
eternal.  Through you, Märtha, life is liveable. 

You are a seer, and you are not frightened to tell what you see.  You 
are the human who has seen me like I have never before been seen, in 
an open look where my weaknesses were lined up without frightening 
you in the slightest.  You are a miracle of a woman, in no other way 
can one explain the wonderful that you today have said yes to become 
my wife!

Many may be lead to think that it is a pure fairytale that we found 
each other.  Of course they are right.  It is without exception a 
fairytale each time two humans find each other and decide to live 
their lives together.  Certainly you are the Princess of Norway, and 
this one may not be separated from all the other that you also 
represent.  You have been shaped and built by your legacy and your 
role, it makes you the person you are today.  Mature and ready for 
the tasks you have set for your life, you are a revelation of 
intensity and drive for all of us who know you.

And in all the time that I have known you, I have thought of nothing 
but this:  If it really is the two of us that is meant to be, then 
God also will arrange so that it becomes us two.  Today life has come 
to us and joined us.  Today you and I are life itself.  I love you!  
I request that those gathered here join me and toast in love of the 
bride!

----

Best regards
Christian Stubø