King Harald v of Norway dies at 89; Crown Prince Haakon succeeds as King Haakon VIII

OSLO, NORWAY, ASKER, SWEDEN, UNITED STATES, LONDON, OSLO’S NATIONAL HOSPITAL, 29 AUGUST 2026 —

King Harald V of Norway died on Friday at 6.35 a.m. at the National Hospital in Oslo. He was 89. His son, Crown Prince Haakon, automatically succeeded him as King Haakon VIII, the palace said.

“For more than 30 years as monarch, Harald V demonstrated an unwavering faith in the Norwegian people,” Støre said in a statement. “He helped us to see the best in ourselves — and in one another.”

Funeral arrangements were not immediately released.

Harald was born in 1937 in Asker, outside Oslo, the first Norwegian prince born in the country since King Olav IV in 1370. His grandfather, Haakon VII, was elected king in 1905 after Norway dissolved its union with Sweden. When Nazi forces occupied Norway in 1940, three-year-old Harald fled with his mother and sisters first to Sweden and then by boat to the United States while his father and grandfather joined Norway’s government-in-exile in London.

The family reunited in Norway in June 1945. Harald attended public schools, Norway’s military college and Oxford University. Like his father — who won Olympic gold in sailing in 1928 — Harald spent years on the water. He competed in multiple Olympics and in 1987 skippered his yacht to victory at the World Championships.

For nine years as a young prince, Harald resisted pressure to marry a noblewoman. He finally won permission to wed his longtime sweetheart, Sonja Haraldsen, the daughter of a businessman, in 1968. King Olav had feared the match would weaken the monarchy, but Norwegians greeted the wedding with celebration. The couple had two children: Crown Prince Haakon, now King Haakon VIII, and Princess Märtha Louise.

Harald was crowned on 21 January 1991 after his father, King Olav V, died. He adopted the royal motto “All for Norway,” the same words used by his father and grandfather. He set out to modernise the institution, remarking once: “It has been my experience that the monarchy stands strong. That puts me under pressure, but I take it as a challenge.”

His reign included moments of direct moral leadership. After the 2011 attacks by Anders Behring Breivik that killed 77 people, Harald told a memorial gathering: “I remain convinced that the belief in freedom is stronger than fear.” In 2016 he delivered a surprise speech championing LGBTQ+ equality, refugees and religious tolerance, declaring: “Norwegians are girls who love girls, boys who love boys, and girls and boys who love each other.”

The royal family has faced recent turbulence. In April, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Haakon’s wife, apologised after renewed scrutiny of her former ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Around the same time, her eldest son from a previous relationship, Marius Borg Høiby, was convicted of rape and sentenced to four years in prison. Høiby holds no royal title and performs no official duties.

In 2022, Princess Märtha Louise relinquished her royal role after attracting attention for claiming she could speak with angels and marrying an American man who describes himself as a shaman.