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Support for the royal family in this formerly staunch monarchist country has slumped from 70 per cent to 53 per cent, with one-third of the population now calling for a republic.

And all that is ahead of the publication later this year of a book investigating whether, in fact, the Norwegian royals have any right to sit on the throne at all.

The charge against them is that in 1902, Princess Maud of Wales - married to the future King - employed a sperm donor to produce a son and heir for the Norwegian throne.

That son, Prince Olav, was born in 1903 at Appleton House at Sandringham, and succeeded to the throne as King Olav V in 1957. He died in 1991 and his son King Harald, 88, now occupies the throne.

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