[3] Ólafur was born in Ísafjörður, the son of barber Grímur Kristgeirsson and housewife Svanhildur Ólafsdóttir Hjartar.

Some have also wanted to rest that power with the people themselves, who could then force referendums to be held on laws by – for instance – collecting a certain number of signatures.

The memo underlined that the President of Iceland has no political power and that no other government official had presented similar points of view "to the same degree".

[10][11][12] The Danish ambassador to Iceland, Lasse Reimann, confirmed to the daily Politiken that the lunch had taken place, but declined to discuss on the President's comments.

In a referendum held on 9 April 2011, Icelanders rejected for a second time a proposal to pay $5 billion to Britain and the Netherlands.

Ólafur Ragnar announced on 4 March 2012, that he would be seeking a fifth term as the President of Iceland in the 2012 presidential election.

In a statement to the country on 1 January 2016, Ólafur Ragnar announced that he would not run in the 2016 presidential election, wanting "to transfer the responsibilities of the president onto other shoulders".

[19] He later withdrew the statement and decided in April to run again,[20] citing political unrest after the fallout of the Panama Papers leak, which implicated Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson and led to his resignation after large anti-government protests.

[22] Reykjavik Grapevine and the news site Kjarninn revealed that Ólafur Ragnar's wife, Dorrit Moussaieff, had connections to an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands.

"[23] Ólafur has expressed concern that Saudi Arabian financing of a Reykjavík mosque will fuel radical Islam in Iceland, and said that he was, "shocked to the point of paralysis" when he learned the government of Saudi Arabia had decided to interfere in Icelandic religious life by donating one million US dollars for the mosque.

He initiated a Global Roundtable on Climate Change with the participation of a large group of companies and individual opinion leaders.

Ólafur strongly advocates the use of geothermal energy, which is renewable, economically viable and reliable resource, as proven convincingly by the case of Iceland.

In relation to his efforts on these issues, Ólafur has participated in the Global Creative Leadership Summit,[28] organized by the Louise Blouin Foundation,[29] in 2007 and 2008.

On 15 April 2013, at the National Press Club in Washington, he announced the formation of the Arctic Circle, an organization to facilitate dialogue among political and business leaders, environmental experts, scientists, indigenous representatives, and other international stakeholders to address issues facing the Arctic as a result of climate change and melting sea ice.