2 min readKing Frederik and Queen Mary of Denmark were among the mourners at the state funeral of King Harald V of Norway today in Oslo, having postponed a planned state visit to Belgium to be present for the occasion. That said, the Danish royals were among the first royal families to confirm their attendance after the funeral was officially scheduled. They were also joined by Princess Benedikte and Crown Prince Christian, making for one of the larger royal delegations at the funeral aside from the Swedish royal family. King Frederik, Queen Mary, and Crown Prince Christian also took part in the cortège with King Harald’s coffin from the Royal Palace to Oslo Cathedral.
King Frederik’s mother, Queen Margrethe, had originally been scheduled to attend but had to miss the funeral after being admitted to the hospital in Copenhagen over the weekend due to a blood clot in the hip area and dehydration.
The Danish royals in the cortège.
The funeral procession leaving the palace. The royals are behind the vehicles in the cortège.
The decision reflected the particularly close ties between the Danish and Norwegian royal houses, which stretch back more than a century. King Harald’s grandfather, King Haakon VII, was born Prince Carl of Denmark before being elected as Norway’s first independent monarch in 1905 following the country’s peaceful dissolution of its union with Sweden. The two royal families have maintained close personal and dynastic connections ever since. King Frederik and Queen Mary had made an official state visit to Norway as recently as 2024.
King Harald died on August 28 at age 89 after being hospitalized with hemolytic anemia, a blood disease, and a subsequent bacterial blood infection. His death prompted an outpouring of grief across Norway, with thousands of people gathering outside the Royal Palace in Oslo in the days that followed to leave flowers, candles, letters, and photographs in his memory. Tributes also poured in from royal families and heads of state around the world. In the days before the funeral, King Harald’s coffin rested in the chapel at the Royal Palace, where members of the public were invited to file past and pay their respects.
Queen Margarethe and King Harald at a gala dinner in 2012.
The Danish and Norwegian royals in Oslo in 2024.
The state funeral drew royal families from around the world. Along with King Frederik and Queen Mary, other royal attendees included the majority of the Swedish royal family, including King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia and their three children; King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium; Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko of Japan; King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima, Princess Beatrix, and Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands; Queen Rania and King Abdullah of Jordan; Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco; and Prince William and Princess Anne from the United Kingdom. Norway had also requested police assistance from both Sweden and Denmark ahead of the funeral in anticipation of what was expected to be the largest security operation in Norwegian history.
Rachel King (she/her) is a news writer at Town & Country. Before joining T&C, she spent nearly a decade as an editor at Fortune. Her work covering travel and lifestyle has appeared in Forbes, Observer, Robb Report, Cruise Critic, and Cool Hunting, among others. Originally from San Francisco, she lives in New York with her wife, their daughter, and a precocious labradoodle. Follow her on Instagram at @rk.passport.