Mari Anne Isakson's eyes filled with tears when Queen Sonja entered Norway Hall on Monday.
The full-blooded Norwegian sends King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway birthday cards each year. A 30-year member of Duluth's Nortun Lodge of the Sons of Norway, she couldn't believe she was finally seeing the royal couple.
"I was nervous getting ready this morning," Isakson said, noting she was able to shake the hand of the queen. "I must have said 'Welcome, your Majesty,' but I can't remember. I was so nervous."
Months of planning and hard work paid off for the members of the Sons of Norway, who made $50,000 in improvements to Norway Hall in the past year in anticipation of the visit. On Monday the king and queen stopped there for a short break in between a luncheon and the Enger Tower dedication, and spent some time with 54 carefully selected people.
"I'm thrilled with how things went," said Kris Eide, president of the Nortun Lodge. "There was a lot of anticipation and anxiety preceding it and it went beautifully."
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Those who had the privilege of meeting the king and queen --half shook hands with the king and half with the queen --were a mix of guests from the international Sons of Norway, presidents of local chapters, and members of the Nortun Lodge.
Nortun Lodge members, Eide said, were chosen through a nomination process. A committee voted on the final selection. Of those who ended up in the hall, many wore traditional Norwegian attire and sweaters. The king and queen split the room in two to speak with guests at little tables after Eide and others spoke and a Norwegian song was sung.
Eide was able to meet both the king and queen.
"They were so down to earth," she said. "We were told all of these things about how we'd have to address them, and the minute we met it just kind of went out the window. They were just lovely, engaging human people."
Stan and Ruth Nerhaugen, members of the Lauris Norstad Lodge in Red Wing, Minn., came inside the hall to watch the Enger Tower dedication ceremony on a large screen set up for the occasion.
"We could have paid $100 to sit in the convention center, but it was fun to sit outside today," said Stan Nerhaugen, who spent two hours outside the hall waiting and watching the king and queen arrive and depart from Norway Hall.
Nerhaugen said he appreciates the egalitarian way of Norwegians, who have a king who truly leads his people.
"The king was quoted after the (July 22) shootings that he would speak from the heart," he said. "And he really did that day. That's part of what people enjoy. Not the pomp."
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Hakon Gundersen also watched the simulcast Enger Tower ceremony from inside the hall after waiting patiently outside. The Oslo native moved to Wrenshall in July to be with his Minnesotan wife, whom he met online in 2005. He had never seen the king and queen in Norway, he said, so he thought it was special to be able to see them in his new country, where he's settled with his wife to find work.
"I don't think it's important where you live," he said. "It's what you make out of your living."
Ruth Nerhaugen said she was impressed with the history of the lodge and the work it does.
"What's wonderful is the way a lodge like this helps people keep in touch with their heritage," said Ruth Nerhaugen. "You can lose it so easily."
