Norway’s King Harald V dies at 89 After Three Decades on the Throne

Norway’s King Harald V, died on Friday at the age of 89, after 35 years on the throne.

“It is with deep grief that we announce that His Majesty King Harald has passed away. King Harald died peacefully at Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet Friday 28 August at 6:35 AM (local time, 0435 GMT),” the royal palace said on its website.

Crowds gathered in grief outside the palace since Thursday, in response to rumours that the King’s health was deteriorating.

“We have lost our beloved king, and the entire nation is in mourning. King Harald reigned in accordance with the motto “All for Norway,” the President of Norway’s Parliament, Masud Gharahkhani, posted on X.

When King Harald was taken to hospital on August 17, the palace said that he was being treated for a bacterial infection in his blood.

The monarch had reduced the number of official engagements in which he took part since receiving a peacemaker device in 2024 but ruled out abdication, insisting that his oath as king was for life.

Succession protocols for Crown Prince Haakon, Harald’s son, were underway.

The 53-year-old royal will be proclaimed King Haakon VIII and serve as Norway’s fourth king since the country gained independence from Sweden in 1905, with Mette-Marit as his queen.

Legacy of Europe’s oldest reigning monarch

Harald V, a descendant of Queen Victoria of Britain, was Europe’s oldest reigning ​monarch.

Born in 1937, he went into exile in the United States as a child during the Nazi occupation of his homeland. During this time, his family met frequently with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom ​Harald years later described as like ⁠a grandfather.

Upon his return to Norway post-WWII, Harald attended state schools and later refused a string of European noblewomen to marry his school sweetheart, Sonja Haraldsen.

When Harald acceded to the throne in 1991, in succession of his father Olav, he ruled Norway as a reformer, Reuters observes, and had constantly remained popular with Norwegians.

A sports and automotive enthusiast, the young King often drove his own car, captained his boat to win a world championship title and competed in several Olympics.

As a nature lover, he realised a lifelong dream aged 76, when he spent four days deep in the Amazon jungle of Brazil, living with the Yanomami people and sleeping in a hammock.

In a 2016 speech, he stated that Norwegians ​could have many backgrounds, beliefs and sexual orientations.

King Harald supported his son Haakon’s relationship and eventual marriage with commoner Mette-Marit, despite her rebellious youth and past substance use, as well as his daughter Martha Louisa’s recent second marriage to shaman Durek Verrett, after her first husband tragically took his own life in 2019.

A time of multiple crises for the Norwegian royal family

King Harald’s passing comes at a tumultuous time for the royal family of Norway.

Crown Princess Mette-Marit, married to Harald’s son Crown Prince Haakon, has faced intense scrutiny for her friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a relationship ​for which she has apologised.

Her son, Marius Hoiby, born from a previous relationship, was found guilty in June of two out of four counts of rape and one count of domestic violence and sentenced to ​four years in prison after a seven-week trial.

Two days after her son’s conviction, the palace said Mette-Marit had undergone a successful ⁠lung transplant, without specifying when the procedure took place. After several weeks of recovery in hospital, she returned home and celebrated her silver wedding anniversary with Haakon in August.

Days before King Harald’s passing, the news broke that his son-in-law, Shaman Durek Verrett, had undergone a kidney transplant in the same hospital where the monarch was fighting with a serious blood infection.