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King Harald V’s state funeral has been officially scheduled for Wednesday, September 9 in Oslo, and world leaders and royal families from across Europe are already making arrangements to attend. Among the first to confirm their presence were King Frederik and Queen Mary of Denmark, who as a result will have to postpone a planned state visit to Belgium in order to be in Norway for the occasion.
The decision reflects the particularly close ties between the Scandinavian royal houses. King Harald’s grandfather, King Haakon VII, was born Prince Carl of Denmark before he was elected as Norway’s first independent monarch following the country’s peaceful dissolution of its union with Sweden in 1905. King Frederik and Queen Mary last made an official state visit to Norway in 2024.
“Your father meant a great deal to my mother and both of us. With his warm and dry sense of humour and unwavering calm, Uncle Harald made others feel comfortable and at ease in his presence. He was an extraordinary man, with a twinkle in his eye and a big heart,” King Frederik wrote in a public letter addressed to his third cousin, King Haakon. (They share the same great-great-grandmother, Queen Louise of Denmark, the mother of both King Christian X of Denmark and King Haakon VII of Norway.) “The bonds between Denmark and Norway are strong. For generations, our families and our countries have been closely tied. Your father will stand as a symbol of that which binds us together.”
Frederik and Mary’s postponed Belgium visit would have included a gala dinner at Laeken Castle, the official royal residence in Brussels, as well as a trip to the port city of Antwerp to explore its cultural history. No new date for the visit has been announced.
OLE BERG-RUSTEN//Getty Images
King Harald and Queen Sonja with King Frederik and Queen Mary in 2024.
Norway is now preparing for what is expected to be one of the largest security operations in its history. The combination of high-profile international guests and the scale of public mourning has prompted authorities to treat the event as an extraordinary undertaking. The country has requested police assistance from Sweden to help manage the influx of dignitaries, foreign delegations, and thousands of ordinary Norwegians expected to gather in Oslo for the funeral.
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.