The US was the first country to recognize Norway's sovereignty when it broke out of a rocky union with Sweden in 1905. That's why it's among the countries getting royal visits this year, as members of the Norwegian royal family travel around the world in their homeland's centennial year.

Queen Sonja has been in Antarctica and London in the past two weeks, while Crown Princess Mette-Marit headed for Malawi and Crown Prince Haakon to Sierra Leone. Haakon will travel to Japan in mid-March.

Eleven countries will be visited in direct connection with Norway's centennial: Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, France, Russia, China, South Africa, India, Canada and the US.

The king and queen are starting out in New York before heading on to Houston and Washington. Sunday evening's event at the Seaman's Church highlighted young Norwegian and Norwegian-American artists, part of a cultural theme that's especially important to Queen Sonja.

She took 75 of her own paintings by Norwegian artists to New York, for an exhibition to be called, simply, "Norway." The exhibition features 13 contemporary Norwegian artists including Mariann Heske, Kåre Tveter and Ørnulf Opdahl.

The Norwegian royals were officialy welcomed to New York by Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Monday morning. A visit to Ground Zero was on the program, along with a concert in St Thomas Church and lunch with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

While most of the centennial events planned within Norway are based on a historic and nostalgic theme, those overseas are meant to promote the modern-day Norway. Norwegian officials and the royals are keen to present Norway as a partner for peace and as a resourceful, knowledgeable and high-tech oriented society.