Norwegians line up at memorials remembering the late King Harald V; funeral set for Sept. 9
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
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, who died at 89.
Harald passed away Friday and his son immediately became the new King Haakon VIII. Since Harald’s death, the royal family and the country have been in an official state of mourning. Norway’s royal palace said Sunday evening the funeral will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 9.
Mourners expressed their grief over the weekend by laying flowers, writing cards and lighting candles in front of the royal palace in Oslo, where the coffin arrived late Friday from the hospital.
“This Sunday is different. His Majesty King Harald is dead. A family has lost their spouse, father, grandfather, father-in-law,” said Dean Pål Kristian Balstad as he opened a memorial service in Oslo Cathedral, Norway's public broadcaster NRK reported.
Turn Up Your Support
MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all.
The royal family attended a service at Asker Church, southwest of Oslo.
Some Norwegians decided to postpone celebrations such as weddings and baptisms until after the mourning period has passed, NRK reported.
Harald’s son, the new king, eulogized Harald on Saturday night. He expressed his pain over the death of his beloved father and promised to lead the country with the same dedication.
“I’m going to miss him. I’ll miss his laughter. His good-natured way of dealing with people and situations,” Haakon said in his first speech as new king that was broadcast live on public television.
Trying to hold back his tears, he vowed to give everything for the country as its king.
“That means — in the ultimate sense — being willing to risk everything, even one’s life, for Norway’s freedom and independence,” Haakon said.
The new king adopted the motto “All for Norway,” 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.
His tasks in the near future will include shoring up support for the monarchy following controversies over his wife’s past contacts with deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his stepson’s rape conviction.
Norway’s 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’s royal family retains celebrity status and a role in promoting the wealthy nation around the world.
At the time of his death, Harald was Europe’s oldest monarch. The popular king modernized the royal house but refused to follow in the footsteps of other aging monarchs who have abdicated in recent times.
Harald was born in 1937 in Asker, near Oslo, becoming the first Norwegian prince to be born in the country since King Olav IV in 1370. In the following centuries, Norway didn't have a king of its own until Harald's grandfather, Haakon VII, was elected king following the 1905 dissolution of the union between Sweden and Norway.
Harald was 3 years old when the Nazis occupied Norway at the start of World War II. To avoid capture, his mother fled with him and his sisters, Ragnhild and Astrid, first to Sweden and then by boat to the U.S., while Harald’s father and grandfather went into exile in Britain with Norway’s government.
During their time in the U.S., the Norwegian royals were often guests at the White House. Harald was 6 when he carried out his first official duty, christening new warplanes at a Norwegian air base in Canada.
The family was reunited in Norway in June 1945, shortly after the end of the war in Europe. Harald attended public schools, the Norwegian military college and Oxford University.
Like his father — an Olympic champion sailor in 1928 — Harald loved the sea and sailboats. He represented Norway at several Olympics, and in 1987 he skippered his yacht to gold in the World Championships.
As a young man, Harald was urged to find a bride among Europe's noblewomen and princesses. For nine years he shunned a series of prospects, holding out until he finally won his father’s permission to marry his longtime sweetheart, Sonja Haraldsen, the daughter of a successful businessman.
King Olav had feared the marriage would weaken Norway’s still-young monarchy. Instead, Norwegians greeted the Aug. 29, 1968, wedding with jubilation, and later embraced Sonja as their queen. The couple had two children, Haakon and his older sister, Märtha Louise.
The Norwegian Constitution was altered in 1990 to allow the first born, regardless of gender, to take precedence in the line of succession. However, it was not applied retroactively, meaning that Haakon continued to take precedence over his sister.
When Harald assumed the throne on Jan. 21, 1991, he adopted the same motto his father and grandfather had used: “All for Norway.” He spent the next years trying to modernize the monarchy.
“It has been my experience that the monarchy stands strong,” he once said. “This is not least because my father and grandfather did most things right. That puts me under pressure, but I take it as a challenge.”
Harald won the praise of the country with an emotional speech at a memorial service after a right-wing extremist, Anders Behring Breivik, killed 77 people in bomb and gun attacks in Norway in 2011.
“I remain convinced that the belief in freedom is stronger than fear. I remain convinced in the belief of an open Norwegian democracy and society. I remain convinced in the belief in our ability to live freely and safely in our own country," the king said.
In 2016, Harald gave an unexpected and impassioned speech in support of LGBTQ+ equality, refugees and religious tolerance, saying “Norwegians are girls who love girls, boys who love boys, and girls and boys who love each other.” He added that many Norwegians have emigrated from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Poland and other countries and that they “believe in God, Allah, the universe and nothing.”
The public speech extolled the diversity of the Scandinavian nation and was viewed on social media by millions.
Scandal and serious allegations have hung over the Norwegian royal family this year. Harald’s daughter-in-law, now-Queen Mette-Marit, faced renewed scrutiny over her connections with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. That raised questions over her judgment, though she is not accused of any wrongdoing. Mette-Marit apologized for the situation she put the royal family in, part of a broader apology for all those she had “disappointed.”
At around the same time, her eldest son, Marius Borg Høiby, was convicted of rape in a high-profile trial and sentenced to four years in prison. Høiby, Mette-Marit's son from a previous relationship before she met Haakon, has no royal titles or official duties.
In 2022, Harald’s daughter Princess Märtha Louise gave up royal duties after raising eyebrows by saying she could communicate with angels and becoming engaged to an American man who identifies as a shaman. They married two years later.
In January 2024, after the abdication of Denmark’s Queen Margrethe — his second cousin — Harald said that he stood by the oath he made when ascending the throne: “It lasts for life.”
However, he was hospitalized twice on foreign trips after that, including during a 2024 vacation in Malaysia when he was fitted with a pacemaker and during a February 2026 holiday on the Spanish island of Tenerife when he had a skin infection.
Ties to Minnesota
The death of King Harald resonated in Minnesota, too — where many people had a brush with the royal family over the years.
Harald made several trips to the Midwest — most recently in 2011, when he and Queen Sonja visited Duluth to rededicate Enger Tower. On that trip, they also stopped in the Twin Cities and at St. Olaf College, as well as Luther College in Iowa.
Now-King Haakon was still crown prince when he was in Minnesota last fall, making stops in the Twin Cities and at St. Olaf in Northfield. Haakon visited Norway House in Minneapolis and met with Gov. Tim Walz at the State Capitol.
MPR News contributed to this report.
