Pia Haraldsen

Pia Renate Haraldsen (born Pia Renate Strømsnes 1 August 1981) is a Norwegian TV personality, comedian, and author, most known for her interviews on the Norwegian TV show Rikets Røst.

She is the daughter of Jasmin Haraldsen, who was married to the Queen of Norway's nephew.

Career

She started her public career in 2001 by going to Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway's wedding, which she was invited to because of her relation to the queen. In the wedding, she met Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and they began dating in 2002. They became a high-profile couple, but the relationship ended after a year and a half. In 2004 she received a lot of attention for her dress at the baptism of Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway. In the following years she has had numerous appearances in Norwegian media.

Her first occupation was as a columnist for Norway’s biggest newspaper, VG. (2004), then she moved on to the Norwegian edition of the magazine Cosmopolitan as a Fashion & Entertainment Editor (2004/2005). In February 2005 she got a job as a jury member in the TV show Shopaholic at TV 3. Later that year she became the TV host of the shows Kjendisjakten (2005) and then Frokostquiz (2006) on TV 2, Norway's biggest commercial channel.

In February 2007 she started as Political Editor on one of TV 2's most popular shows, Rikets Røst (translated as "The Nations Voice") hosted by comedian Otto Jespersen where she punked and provoked political interview subjects with dupe questions and her fake ignorance. She asked how Barack Obama could run for president, as he is not a U.S. citizen (she said she read somewhere he was "African-American") and asked if Senator Clinton could be president after the "cigar incident?". The councilman reacted to the questions and threw the crew out of his office.

After the interview was shown on Norwegian Television it was posted on YouTube and attracted attention. Haraldsen was interviewed by large American media outlets like USA Today, Inside Edition and Fox News.

In early October 2008, Haraldsen was denied a visa by US authorities. This came after the US Embassy in Oslo had sought a second opinion from the Department of Homeland Security. The refusal states that she does not appear to fulfill requirements for journalists; however, it states she may apply for an artist visa. Haraldsen wanted to cover the presidential election for TV 2 Entertainment. A tourist visa application takes about two weeks to process, whereas a journalist visa only takes 3 days.