OSLO, Aug 25 — Norway's Crown Prince Haakon will marry a controversial Cinderella on Saturday after a last-minute plea for Norwegians to forget his bride's rebellious past and accept her as a dutiful future queen.
In a fairytale ceremony attended by Kings and Queens from around Europe, Haakon will marry Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby, a single mother, student and former waitress, in the Oslo cathedral at 1500 GMT.
Thousands of people are expected to throng the streets waving Norway's red, white and blue flag. Royalists hope the celebration will recall the atmosphere of Norway's last big international success, the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics.
Workers have even filled in the tram lines past the cathedral with tarmac to help prevent any of the royals from tripping up before a television audience estimated at up to 300 million people.
Haakon, in a speech on Friday night at a banquet given by Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, tried to win over critics of his blonde bride after months of controversy during which traditional strong public support for the monarch has declined.
"We decided to live our lives together," Haakon said. "I know that our choice has not been so easy for everyone else. I just have to respect that."
From party to duty
"But I will assure you that we will both do our utmost to do our duty in the best interests of the nation and the Norwegian people," he said.
Hoiby, who has a four-year-old son by a previous relationship with a man who has court convictions for drug crimes, admitted on Wednesday to a wild past in the mid-1990s attending parties where drug use was frequent.
She said she now condemned drugs.
European royals including Britain's Prince Charles, Queen Sofia of Spain, King Albert of Belgium and King Carl Gustaf of Sweden will attend the wedding.
Some royalists fear that the Norwegian monarchy is losing its power as a rallying symbol for the Scandinavian nation since its members are becoming too like ordinary citizens.
Haakon and Hoiby, who met about three years ago, have lived in a flat in central Oslo since last year despite opposition from the state Lutheran church to cohabitation. Haakon will be head of the church as king.
Many Norwegians hail Hoiby as a repentant Cinderella. But she has struggled to win people's hearts.
An MMI survey for the daily Dagbladet on Friday showed that King Harald, who himself caused a stir in 1968 by marrying Sonja Haraldsen—a commoner rather than a blue-blooded princess — was the favourite royal of 30.4 percent of Norwegians.
Haakon was second on 24.1 percent while Hoiby came last on 1.5 percent, trailing Queen Sonja on 3.8.
Other opinion polls show that popularity for the monarchy, which had been rock-solid at about 75-80 percent since World War Two, fell to a record low of 58 percent earlier this year. It rose to 62 percent in an MMI survey this month.