Early life
Ragnhild was born on (1930-06-09)9 June 1930 at the Royal Palace in Oslo, Norway, the first child of the then Crown Prince Olav (later King Olav V) and Crown Princess Märtha of Norway. She was the first Norwegian princess to have been born on Norwegian soil for 629 years. At a meeting of the Council of State convened after the birth, her grandfather King Haakon VII announced that she would bear the names "Ragnhild Alexandra". She was christened in the Palace Chapel on 27 June 1930. Her godparents were her paternal grandparents, the King and Queen of Norway; her maternal grandparents, the Duke and Duchess of Västergötland; her great-uncle, the King of Sweden; her great-aunt, Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom; her maternal aunt, Princess Axel of Denmark; and the Duke of York.
Although Ragnhild was Olav's eldest child, she could not become Queen regnant of Norway, as under Salic law women were excluded from succession at the time. Before the birth of her younger brother, it was assumed she would accede to the throne in the absence of a male heir. After the birth of her sister Princess Astrid in 1932, preparations were made at government level for the required constitutional amendment. Her brother, Harald (later King Harald V), was born in 1937. She was a great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and great-granddaughter of Edward VII of the United Kingdom, making her a second cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.
Ragnhild grew up with her siblings at the royal residence of Skaugum near Asker, west of Oslo. In 1940, during World War II, she and her family fled the German invasion of Norway, and she spent the wartime years in exile with her mother and siblings in Bethesda, Maryland.
Following the royal family's return to Norway she attended Nissen's Girls' School and obtained her school leaving certificate in 1948. Her confirmation took place on 11 May 1947 in the Palace Chapel. She later spent four semesters, between 1948 and 1949, studying at a finishing school in Lausanne, Switzerland.