King Harald acceded to the throne in January 1991

NEED TO KNOW

• King Harald V of Norway has died at age 89, after being hospitalized last week for a rare blood condition
• “It is with deep grief that we announce that His Majesty King Harald has passed away,” the Royal Palace in Oslo said on Friday, Aug. 28
• The Norwegian monarch acceded to the throne in 1991. Norway’s new monarch is Harald’s only son, Haakon

King Harald V of Norway has died. He was 89.

On Friday, Aug. 28, the Royal Palace in Oslo confirmed that King Harald had died “peacefully” at 6:35 a.m. local time that day at the Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet.

“It is with deep grief that we announce that His Majesty King Harald has passed away,” the palace said.

The royal flag on the roof of the palace has been lowered to half-mast to mark the King’s passing, per the BBC. The King’s death came after he was hospitalized last week for a rare blood condition.

The monarch is immediately succeeded by his only son, Haakon. King Harald is also survived by his wife since 1968, Queen Sonja, their daughter, Märtha Louise, his elder sister, Princess Astrid, his grandchildren and other members of the Norwegian royal family.

The news comes after several years of health issues and weeks of hospitalization as his condition deteriorated.

The King was hospitalized for the second time this year on Aug. 17, with the Royal House announcing at the time that it was due to side effects from other ongoing medical treatment. At the time, it was said that the King would be on sick leave for two weeks. Crown Prince Haakon was declared the regent in his father’s stead.

Less than a week later, the palace released an update on the monarch, saying that King Harald’s condition had “worsened” and he was receiving antibiotics for a “bloodstream bacterial infection.”

Then, on Aug. 27, the Royal House announced that the King’s health had once again “deteriorated” and his condition was “very serious.” Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon canceled their upcoming royal engagements to be by his bedside and members of the royal family were pictured arriving at the Oslo University Hospital to visit with the King.

Crowds of well-wishers also began laying flowers in Palace Square in Oslo, in front of the royal palace.

King Harald will be remembered as the most down-to-earth and inclusive monarch in Europe.

“Norwegians are girls who love girls, boys who love boys, and girls and boys who love each other,” Harald said in a 2016 speech supporting gay rights.

Celebrating Norwegians of all faiths, he added that his countrymen believed “in God, in Allah, in the universe — and in nothing.”

“It is not always easy to say where we are from, what nationality we are. Home is where our heart is,” Harald continued.

“In other words,” he said. “Norway is you. Norway is us.”

This is a far cry from the world that Harald was born into on February 21, 1937, at the royal family’s official country residence of Skaugum, near Oslo.

The only son of Crown Prince Olav (the future King Olav V) and Crown Princess Märtha, Harald was the first prince born inside Norway in 567 years. Sadly, he wasn’t to remain in the country for long.

On April 9, 1940, Norway was invaded by Nazi Germany, forcing the royal family to flee to nearby — and neutral — Sweden. The young Prince Harald then made his way to the U.S., finding refuge at the Norwegian ambassador’s residence in Washington, D.C., alongside his mother Crown Princess Märtha and elder sisters, Princess Ragnhild and Princess Astrid.

His grandfather King Haakon VII and father Crown Prince Olav, meanwhile, led the determined Norwegian resistance efforts from London.

“President Roosevelt and the American people reached out to us, and gave my mother, my sisters and myself a safe home in the U.S.A.,” Harald said in a May 2015 speech in Seattle. “Your country has had a special place in my heart ever since.”

Following the Allied liberation of Norway in May 1945, Prince Harald returned to Skaugum and attended Smestad school in Oslo before entering the Norwegian Cavalry Officers’ Training School in 1955 and the Norwegian Military Academy in 1959.

Shortly after becoming Crown Prince following the death of King Haakon VII on Sept. 21, 1957, he studied social science, history and economics at Oxford’s Balliol College from 1960 to 1962.

Six years later, he took the even bigger step of marrying long-term girlfriend Sonja Haraldsen at Oslo Cathedral on August 29, 1968 — a matter of major national importance at the time because Sonja was considered “a commoner.”

The couple has been together ever since, welcoming Princess Märtha Louise on September 22, 1971, and Prince Haakon on July 20, 1973.

Harald’s life changed on January 17, 1991, when he acceded to the throne upon the death of his father, King Olav V.

In a ceremony dating back 1,000 years, the new King Harald and Queen Sonja were consecrated in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim on June 23, 1991, before embarking on a 22-day tour of the country.

“For me, the loss of a dear father was also the transition to a whole new era for our family,” King Harald said in his 2001 New Year’s address. “The great participation and all the sympathy we received gave a strong feeling that the Norwegian people stood with us in a common grief.”

King Harald filled the duties of head of state with great care and diligence, chairing the weekly Council of State, formally opening the Norwegian parliament (Storting) each October and officially signing government legislation.

Together, King Harald and Queen Sonja also played a key role in Norwegian diplomacy, traveling across the globe to represent the government and welcoming foreign presidents, prime ministers, and royalty to Norway — often aboard the Royal Yacht Norge.

“I admire the way you carry out your duties, and the way that you support Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth,” the King said to Prince William and Kate Middleton during their 2018 visit to Norway.

“The Queen and I know from our own experience how valuable it is to work together with the younger generation and how important it is to support one another in this rather unusual profession of ours.”

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As with the British royal family, however, King Harald has also provided comfort during times of trouble and national turmoil. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the aftermath of the suicide of Ari Behn, the ex-husband of Princess Martha Louise and father to three of his grandchildren, on Christmas Day 2019.

“Sometimes life is not to endure. For some, it gets so dark that nothing helps. Not even the love of their loved ones,” King Harald said in a 2019 New Year’s Eve address to the nation. “My thoughts tonight are especially with all those who go out of the old year with a sad void of someone they were happy with.”

In 2024, many wondered if King Harald would abdicate the throne like his counterpart in Denmark, Queen Margrethe, who became the first Danish monarch to step down in 900 years. After all, King Harald had called upon his son to act as regent on multiple occasions when he was ill.

He told an outlet, “I stand by what I have said all along. I have taken an oath to the Storting, and it lasts for life.”

A keen hunter, fisherman, and skier, the King represented Norway in sailing at the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympic Games, eventually becoming both European (2005) and World Champion (1987). He also rowed for Oxford University (alongside Professor Stephen Hawking), was a passionate environmentalist and served as President of the Norwegian chapter of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF Norge) for 20 years.

Throughout his reign, King Harald also did everything he could to live up to the motto he adopted at his coronation: “We give our all for Norway.”

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