Photo: Presidencia de la República del Ecuador / Wikimedia.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre states that King Haakon has decided that his mother will retain the title Queen Sonja.

That choice is in keeping with the designation of Denmark’s Queen Ingrid, who retained the title after the death of her husband, King Frederik IX, in 1972, when their daughter became Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, who herself retained the title of queen when she abdicated.

Alternatives such as “Queen Mother” or “Dowager Queen” would seem too outdated today.