{"id":157355,"date":"2026-09-01T22:21:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T22:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/157355\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T22:21:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T22:21:21","slug":"norwegians-gather-in-cathedrals-for-king-harald-v-memorial-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/157355\/","title":{"rendered":"Norwegians gather in cathedrals for King Harald V memorial services"},"content":{"rendered":"

OSLO, Norway (AP) \u2014 Tens of thousands of Norwegians lined up Sunday in front of cathedrals and churches across the country for memorial services held for the late King Harald V<\/a>, who died at 89.<\/p>\n

Harald passed away Friday and his son immediately became the new King Haakon VIII<\/a>. Since Harald\u2019s death, the royal family and the country have been in an official state of mourning. Norway\u2019s<\/a> royal palace said Sunday evening the funeral will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 9.<\/p>\n

Mourners expressed their grief over the weekend by laying flowers, writing cards and lighting candles in front of the royal palace in Oslo<\/a>, where the coffin arrived late Friday from the hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Sunday is different. His Majesty King Harald is dead. A family has lost their spouse, father, grandfather, father-in-law,\u201d said Dean P\u00e5l Kristian Balstad as he opened the funeral service in Oslo Cathedral, Norway\u2019s public broadcaster NRK reported.<\/p>\n

The royal family attended a service at Asker Church, southwest of Oslo.<\/p>\n

Some Norwegians decided to postpone celebrations such as weddings and baptisms until after the mourning period has passed, NRK reported.<\/p>\n

Harald\u2019s son, the new king, eulogized Harald on Saturday night<\/a>. He expressed his pain over the death of his beloved father and promised to lead the country with the same dedication. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to miss him. I\u2019ll miss his laughter. His good-natured way of dealing with people and situations,\u201d Haakon said in his first speech as new king that was broadcast live on public television. <\/p>\n

Trying to hold back his tears, he vowed to give everything for the country as its king.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat means \u2014 in the ultimate sense \u2014 being willing to risk everything, even one\u2019s life, for Norway\u2019s freedom and independence,\u201d Haakon said. <\/p>\n

The new king adopted the motto \u201cAll for Norway,\u201d which dates back to his great-grandfather. His wife became Queen Mette-Marit, while his oldest child, Ingrid Alexandra, became crown princess and heir to the throne.<\/p>\n

His tasks in the near future will include shoring up support for the monarchy following controversies over his wife\u2019s past contacts with deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein<\/a> and his stepson\u2019s rape conviction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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Norway\u2019s monarchy traces its origins to King Harald Fairhair in the ninth century. When Norway regained its independence from Sweden in 1905, three-quarters of voters in a national plebiscite approved restoring the monarchy. Today, the role is largely symbolic as power lies with an elected parliament, but the country\u2019s royal family retains celebrity status and a role in promoting the wealthy nation around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OSLO, Norway (AP) \u2014 Tens of thousands of Norwegians lined up Sunday in front of cathedrals and churches…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[85],"tags":[5901,73353,1162,72688,73032,3487,497,157,156,2112,1161],"class_list":["post-157355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oslo","tag-crown-princess-of-norway","tag-funerals-and-memorial-services","tag-general-news","tag-harald-v","tag-ingrid-alexandra","tag-jeffrey-epstein","tag-mette-marit","tag-norway","tag-oslo","tag-royalty","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/117198119461794076","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157355","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=157355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}