Royal guests on Gullfaks C

On Monday, 7th of May 1990, the then Crown Prince Harald and Crown Princess Sonja brought the then Grand Duke Jean and Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte of Luxembourg along for a visit to the Gullfaks C platform.

The visit to Gullfaks C wasn’t part of the official state program. It marked the end of a private four-day tour the Grand Ducal couple had undertaken with the Crown Prince and Princess along the west coast of Norway.[REMOVE]Fotnote: “Hjertelig varmt statsbesøk”, VG, 4 May 1990, pp. 24-25 and “Farvel til Luxembourg-hertugparet”, Stavanger Aftenblad, 5 May 1990, p. 8.

Before that, they had been on an official state visit in Oslo, where they met King Olav, visited the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) in Lillestrøm, and met with hospitalized children, among other engagements.[REMOVE]Fotnote: “Storhertugen kommer…”, Akershus Arbeiderblad, 3 May 1990, last page and “Varm velkomst for hertugparet”, Arbeiderbladet, 3 May 1990, p. 13.

Whether it was the Crown Prince couple who wanted to show off a tangible symbol of Norway as an oil nation, or the Grand Ducal couple who wished to see this relatively new Norwegian industry, the sources don’t say. Hosting foreign guests on an oil installation is certainly a dream for many Norwegians – a dream more easily realized if you happen to be royalty, and especially if you’re entertaining royal guests.

The staff on Gullfaks C were ready. As mentioned, management had suited up in shirts, ties, and navy-blue cardigans with collars – everything sent out from shore.[REMOVE]Fotnote: Thormod Hope’s notes on a photograph he submitted to the museum’s collection in 2024. The photograph is catalogued as NOMF-04002.354.

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Thormod Hope, who was Technical Manager on Gullfaks at the time, recalls that Crown Princess Sonja asked Platform Manager Gunnar Heiberg-Andersen – a legend, according to Hope—if they had spent a lot of time cleaning and tidying before the guests arrived.

According to Hope, Heiberg-Andersen replied in proper Bergen dialect: “I’ll say what my old aunt used to say— we clean up after the guests have left.”