Born into a royal family striving to act like ordinary citizens, Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon breaks new ground on Saturday by marrying a single mother and former waitress.

Some Norwegian royalists fear the thoughtful 28-year-old will rub away too much of the monarchy's gilded aura when he weds Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby in Oslo.

Hoiby, who has a four-year-old son from a former relationship with a man convicted of drugs crimes, admitted on Wednesday to a rebellious partying past. She said she now condemns drugs.

"Not strange that I love this girl," Haakon said after her tearful confession at a palace news conference. Norwegian media also praised her for bravery.

Born on July 20, 1973, Haakon went to an ordinary school as part of a policy of making the royal family close to citizens.

He now lives with Hoiby and her son Marius in an Oslo flat and has been seen buying frozen pizzas at the local supermarket.

He and his blonde fiancee are clearly in love, holding hands on park benches or when taking Marius for a walk. And by picking a controversial bride, Haakon is following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.

King Harald broke with tradition by marrying a commoner, Sonja Haraldsen, in 1968. His father, King Olav, long disapproved of the match and hoped for years Harald would fall for a foreign princess instead. Sonja is now queen.

King Olav himself, a grandson of Britain's Queen Victoria, raised eyebrows in 1929 by marrying Martha, a Swedish princess, only 24 years after Norway had won independence from its Nordic neighbour.

Haakon has said that during his upbringing he sometimes wondered whether to give up the throne but concluded he would see life through as a royal.

After school, he entered the navy in 1992 and ended a three-year stint as second-in-command on a missile torpedo boat.

From 1996 to 1999, he studied at the University of California in Berkeley, where he won a bachelor's degree in political science. For the past year, he has been a trainee diplomat at the Foreign Ministry.

He has won praise for talking out in favour of tolerance for homosexuality and against racism.

But some people reckon Haakon has gone too far in accepting the trappings of the monarchy while wanting a normal life.

Stopped while entering a bar several years ago, he lied and gave his name as "Johnny from Stovner" -- a run-down area of eastern Oslo. Many Norwegians said he should give up his right to a life of luxury and go and live in Stovner.