2 min readPrincess Ingrid Alexandra is enrolling at the University of Oslo for the fall semester. The Norwegian royal will be taking courses at the school’s Faculty of Social Sciences as an exchange student, starting today.
Princess Ingrid Alexandra dressed, casually in a white t-shirt with dark pants and a grey Larriet bomber jacket, was welcomed by university faculty and fellow students with a campus reception on Monday afternoon.
Princess Ingrid Alexandra arriving on her first day of school.
The Princess, who is second in line to the Norwegian throne after her father, Crown Prince Haakon, has been studying at the University of Sydney for the last year, with a focus on international relations and political economy. In Oslo this semester, her coursework will include comparative politics and conflict resolution. Ingrid Alexandra’s move back to Oslo has been facilitated through the exchange agreement the two universities have held since 2001. According to a statement from the University of Oslo, more than 100 students have transferred between the schools over 25 years.
The Princess and other University of Oslo students at Monday’s welcome reception.
The transfer comes on the heels of her mother’s lung transplant. Crown Princess Mette-Marit underwent the procedure in June at Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet and was discharged in mid-July to continue recovering at home. She was diagnosed with chronic pulmonary fibrosis in 2018, a progressive and incurable disease that scars lung tissue. There is no cure for the condition. Princess Ingrid Alexandra flew back home from Sydney in early June to be with her mother ahead of the surgery.
In a release from the Royal House of Norway, the palace stipulated that after the welcome reception, “the Princess will be an ordinary student at UiO. No further official events or media events are planned in connection with her studies.”
Rachel King (she/her) is a news writer at Town & Country. Before joining T&C, she spent nearly a decade as an editor at Fortune. Her work covering travel and lifestyle has appeared in Forbes, Observer, Robb Report, Cruise Critic, and Cool Hunting, among others. Originally from San Francisco, she lives in New York with her wife, their daughter, and a precocious labradoodle. Follow her on Instagram at @rk.passport.