offered condolences<\/a> to Harald\u2019s family and the Norwegian people. He said Harald had an ability to bring together Norwegians from different backgrounds and strengthen national cohesion during both periods of stability and crisis.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sweden\u2019s King Carl XVI Gustaf described Harald as a friend to himself, his family and Sweden. He also wished Haakon success as Norway\u2019s new head of state.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Harald became king on 17 January 1991 following the death of his father, King Olav V. Born in 1937, he was the first Norwegian heir to the throne born in Norway in almost 570 years.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
His childhood coincided with the Second World War. After Nazi Germany invaded Norway in 1940, Harald left the country with his mother, Crown Princess M\u00e4rtha, and his sisters. They eventually settled in the United States before returning to Norway after the war in 1945.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Harald later studied at Oxford and represented Norway in sailing at three Olympic Games. His marriage to Sonja Haraldsen in 1968 also marked a change for the royal house. Sonja was a commoner and the couple had been together for nine years before receiving approval to marry.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As king, Harald supported a more open monarchy and spoke about religious, ethnic and sexual diversity. During times of crisis, he was known to comfort the nation and even travel to places affected by disasters. After the 2011 attacks in Oslo and on Ut\u00f8ya, where\u00a0anti-Islam fanatic\u00a0Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people, Harald held an emotional televised speech in which he told Norwegians that \u201cfreedom is stronger than fear\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Harald continued serving despite health problems in his later years. During a trip to Malaysia in 2024, doctors fitted him with a temporary pacemaker after he developed an infection. He later received a permanent pacemaker in Norway and reduced his official engagements.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He rejected calls to abdicate. Harald said his oath before parliament committed him to the position for life.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
His death also comes during a period of scrutiny of the royal family. Crown Princess Mette-Marit has apologised for her past association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Her son from a previous relationship, Marius Borg H\u00f8iby, received a four-year prison sentence in June after a court convicted him of two counts of rape and domestic violence. He has appealed. Prosecutors have also appealed the sentence.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Harald leaves Queen Sonja, their two children, Princess M\u00e4rtha Louise and King Haakon, and their grandchildren. Haakon becomes Norway\u2019s fourth king since the country gained independence from Sweden in 1905.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
HT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Norway\u2019s King Harald V has died at the age of 89 after 35 years on the throne, ending…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[87],"tags":[9821,158,62656,72913,113,72912,45379,157,55790,27096,1884],"class_list":["post-154984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-helsinki","tag-alexander-stubb","tag-finland","tag-haakon","tag-harald-death","tag-helsinki","tag-king-haakon-viii","tag-king-harald-v","tag-norway","tag-norwegian-royal-family","tag-queen-sonja","tag-sauli-niinisto"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/117177165487521096","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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