Royals attend Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony

Members of the Norwegian royal family attended  the ceremonial awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize at Oslo City Hall, according to a statement issued on Wednesday.

Ana Corina Sosa Machado, daughter of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of her mother.

The statement said King Harald and Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon and Princess Ingrid Alexandra were present during the ceremony.

It said, "Maria Corina Machado received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work to secure democratic rights for the people of Venezuela, and for her fight for a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to popular rule."

In a speech delivered by her daughter during the ceremony, the Venezuelan opposition leader,  Maria Corina Machado, said democracies must be prepared to fight for freedom in order to survive. 

The 58-year-old engineer had been due to receive the award in Oslo, in the presence of King Harald, in defiance of a decade-long travel ban imposed by authorities in her home country and after spending more than a year in hiding.