Celebration of The King and Queen’s 80th birthdays

Overview of events
Tuesday 9 May, 17:30: Entertainment in front of the Royal Palace. At 18:30 The King and Queen and their guests from Europe will gather on the palace balcony. Photo opportunity.

Tuesday 9 May, 20:00: Gala dinner at the Royal Palace. Photo pool inside the Palace.

Wednesday 10 May, 11:00: Lunch on the Royal Yacht, Norge. Photo opportunity as the Yacht leaves Honnørbrygga, the quayside in front of the City Hall.

Wednesday 10 May, 19:00: Banquet at the Opera House. The banquet is the Government’s gift to the King and Queen to mark their 80th birthdays. Photo opportunity as the guests arrive. Photo pool inside the Opera House.

The royal cortège will drive along Karl Johans gate from the Royal Palace to the Opera House.  

AccreditationMembers of the press must be accredited. The deadline for accreditation is 12:00 on Wednesday 3 May. In order to be accredited, members of the press must send an email to the Prime Minister’s Office, using the address smkinfo@smk.dep.no. The email must include the name of the applicant, their workplace, profession (photographer/reporter) and date of birth. Accreditation will be valid for both 9 and 10 May. All those applying for accreditation must have a valid press card. Members of the foreign press must have an international press card. Accredited members of the press will receive information about where and when their proof of accreditation card can be fetched.

Designated areas for photographers outdoors
There will be designated areas for the press both in front of the Royal Palace, on the quayside in front of the City Hall, and outside the Opera House. 

There will be a designated area for accredited members of the press in front of the Royal Palace in connection with the entertainment on Tuesday afternoon.

In connection with the lunch on the Royal Yacht, there will be two designated areas for photographers on the quayside in front of the City Hall, Honnørbrygga.

The royal cortège will drive along Karl Johans gate from the Royal Palace to the dinner at the Opera House. There will be no specific designated areas for photographers along Karl Johans gate. Members of the press who wish to work in this area must find suitable positions themselves.

Outside the Opera House, there will be three designated areas for photographers, from all of which it will be possible to take good pictures of the guests arriving for the banquet. Accredited members of the press must choose which of the designated areas they wish to use. Information about these areas will be sent out after the deadline for accreditation applications.

Indoor photographs
At the gala dinner at the Royal Palace on 9 May, there will be a photo pool in connection with the receiving line, processions and speeches (the pool will consist of NTB Scanpix and NRK TV).

It will only be possible for a very small pool to work inside the Opera House in connection with the dinner. NTB Scanpix will provide still images. NRK will provide moving images for TV and internet.

Access to pool images
Still images: NTB Scanpix. NTB Scanpix can be contacted by email: ntb.fotodesk@ntb.no and telephone: +47 22 00 32 64.

Moving images (video) will be distributed by NRK. Only NRK will be allowed to film inside the Palace and the Opera House during the celebrations, but will not be refunded for their production. Therefore any other media that would like access to the pool signal will have to pay NRK for their share of the technical costs.

The signal will be HDSDI 1080i with embedded sound. An RTMP stream of high quality will also be available. The pool signal will be made available at NRK MCR. Interested media are themselves responsible for arranging contribution from NRK MCR and onwards.

NRK will provide the pool signal live via Eurovision News Exchange.

The contact person in NRK is Marit Moi, email: marit.moi@nrk.no, telephone: +47 959 37 347.

Press contacts
The press contact at the Prime Minister’s Office is Communications Adviser Arvid Samland, telephone: +47 930 51 458, email: arvid.samland@smk.dep.no. 

The press contact at the Royal Palace is Assistant Head of Communication Sven G. Gjeruldsen, telephone: +47 908 26 849, email: sgg@slottet.no.