Solidarity Norway: When a country rows in unison
From the national celebration after the World Cup, through the mourning over the death of King Harald V and up to the meeting with King Haakon VIII, Norway shows what power is created when people stand together. We don't just need that power at Slottsplassen. We also need it in working life and in the society we are going to build.
When Norway rowed in time
In the summer of 2026, we received a photo that will remain in Norwegian history.
The Norwegian men's national team had reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup. The adventure ended in defeat, but when the players returned home, more than 100,000 people turned out in Oslo to thank them. Slottsplassen and Karl Johans gate were filled with red, white and blue.
Then Crown Prince Haakon took out the drumsticks.
In front of him the players and the crowd sat down. The beats of the drum provided the rhythm, and thousands of people began to row together. The movements went through the crowd like a wave.
The image was both playful and powerful. A future king did not sit at a distance and watch the people. He participated. He set the rhythm, but it was the community that created the moment.
When thousands of people find the same rhythm, the community becomes bigger than each of us.
There was unity in the joy. Not because everyone was the same, thought the same or came from the same place, but because at that moment we shared something. Pride. Gratitude. Belonging. Norway had lost a football match, but we had won an image of ourselves as a nation.
When joy was replaced by sorrow
Just a few weeks later, the Palace Square looked completely different.
After the death of King Harald V on August 28, a sea of flowers grew in front of the Palace. People came with roses, flags, drawings and personal greetings. Children, adults and the elderly stood side by side. Some cried. Others stood silently. Many needed to be there with others.
From September 1 to 8, the public was allowed to enter the Palace Chapel and say their final goodbyes. More than 46,000 people filed past King Harald V's bier. I was one of them.
It was a personal farewell, but at the same time something far greater. We walked forward one by one, but we did it together. In the silence lay both the sadness and the gratitude for a king who for 35 years had met people with warmth, humor and respect.
King Harald reminded us that Norway is all of us. He put into words an inclusive community where Norwegians come from north and south, from city and country – and from many parts of the world. He made room for differences without making the community smaller. On the contrary, he made it bigger.
The sea of flowers and the long queues to the Palace Chapel therefore did not just tell about the love of one king. They told something about Norway. When grief strikes, we seek together. We do not necessarily bear the same grief in the same way, but we help each other bear it.
In grief, we walked past the bier one by one. Yet it was precisely then that we stood together most clearly.
A new king meets the people
On Wednesday, September 9 at 4:45 p.m., King Haakon VIII, Queen Mette-Marit, Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra, Queen Sonja and Prince Sverre Magnus will come out onto the Palace Balcony to greet the people.
It will be a historic moment.
The grief over King Harald is still close. At the same time, a new chapter in the story of Norway begins. The man who just weeks earlier set the pace when a whole sea of people rowed together, now faces the nation as king.
The transition contains both loss and hope. We say goodbye to a king we had grown to love, and welcome a new king. Continuity and renewal meet on the same balcony and the same place where we have both rejoiced and mourned.
King Haakon VIII has chosen to continue the election language "All for Norway". The words bind him to history, but they also point forward. Before
Norway is not primarily buildings, institutions, natural resources or money. Norway is the people who live here, and what we are able to create together.
The invisible capital between us
What really happens when tens of thousands move in the same rhythm, when a sea of flowers grows, or when people wait for hours to show respect?
It's trust. Belonging. Caring. Shared direction. The feeling that we are part of something bigger than ourselves.
This is a form of invisible capital. It is not in a state budget or accounts, but it has enormous value. It makes us better able to face crises, manage disagreements, and create something together.
Unity does not mean that conflicts or differences disappear. A vibrant democracy needs disagreement. But we must be able to disagree without making enemies of each other. We must know that there is a commonality beneath the disagreement – some values and a view of humanity that we will not let go of.
What if working life found the same rhythm?
Imagine if we could bring some of the energy from Slottsplassen into working life.
Not the cheers or the drums literally, but the experience of belonging, being seen and pulling in the same direction. Imagine what can happen when employees understand why their work matters. When leaders create trust. When expertise is shared. When people get to use their abilities, and when the business unites around a goal that feels meaningful.
Then work doesn't just become tasks to be performed. It becomes value creation.
An organization does not create results because all people think alike. It creates results when different people manage to use their knowledge and experiences towards a common goal. Just like in symbolic rowing, someone must contribute direction and rhythm, but the power only arises when people participate.
This applies to business, hospitals, schools, municipalities, cultural life and volunteering. Machines, capital and technology are important. But it is people who make the resources work together. It is people who create trust, improvements, innovation and good encounters with other people.
Imagine the energy we can release when people feel they belong, are valued, and create something together.
Solidarity Norway
In a short time, Norway has experienced unity in great joy, unity in deep sorrow, and now unity in anticipation of a new era.
First we rowed together.
Then we mourned together.
Now we raise our gaze together.
When King Haakon VIII appears on the Palace balcony, he will meet a people who still miss his father – but who are also ready to welcome their new king.
Let that moment remind us of what we are capable of when we stand together. Not just on the big days, but also in everyday life. In the workplace. In the neighborhood. In democracy. In the way we meet people who are different from ourselves.
Because that's where unity really needs to live.
Imagine what energy.
Imagine what we can create.
Think about what values we stand for – and what values we can create together.
Solidarity Norway
Further reading and sources
© 2025 - 2026 Portico Publish | The invisible capital Privacy and use of the website | Developed and operated by Magne Bjella | Powered and secured by Wix
Comments