Norway has entered a new royal era following the death of King Harald V at the age of 89, ending a 35-year reign during which he became known for bringing the monarchy closer to ordinary people.
Harald died peacefully at 06:35 local time (04:35 GMT) on Friday, August 28, at the National Hospital in Oslo, where he had been receiving treatment for a rare blood condition. The Royal Palace in Oslo confirmed his death and lowered the royal flag to half-mast.
Members of the royal family had visited the King during the 24 hours before his death, while crowds gathered at the palace to lay flowers in his memory.
Harald was Norway’s first king born in the country since the 14th Century. He has been succeeded by his son, Haakon, marking the start of a new chapter for the Norwegian monarchy.
After more than three decades on the throne, Harald leaves behind a reputation as a popular and reforming monarch who helped modernise the royal family. He broke with royal tradition by marrying a commoner and became a steady figure during some of Norway’s darkest moments.
Royal observers described him as down-to-earth, respected and widely loved. He was often seen as a "grandfather" of the nation and the "People's king", a title previously associated with his father, King Olav V.
His ability to connect with ordinary Norwegians was also seen in his public speeches and response to national tragedies.
Following the 2011 bomb and gun attacks in Oslo and on the island of Utøya, Harald called on Norwegians to stand together and not "let fear take over".
Historian and TV2 royal correspondent Ole-Jørgen Schulsrud-Hansen said the monarchy became more open during Harald’s reign, including in how it handled its finances and health matters.
Royal correspondent Tove Taalesen described Harald as "one of us", while royal expert Caroline Vagle of Se og Hør magazine said he had "always been very close to the people".
Harald also remained connected to national life through sport. When Norway’s national football team returned from the United States after reaching the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time, he welcomed the players home at the palace.
He is survived by his wife of almost 58 years, Queen Sonja, their daughter Princess Märtha Louise, their son King Haakon and six grandchildren.
Harald was born on February 21, 1937, at the Skaugum estate near Oslo. He was three years old when Nazi Germany invaded Norway during the Second World War.
His mother fled with her children across the border into Sweden before they travelled to the United States at the invitation of President Franklin D Roosevelt.
The family returned to Norway after the war, where Harald completed his education and compulsory military service. He became crown prince in 1957 before studying social science, history and economics at Balliol College in Oxford from 1960 to 1962.
His relationship with Sonja Haraldsen, the daughter of a businessman, challenged royal tradition. The couple met at a party, but Harald waited nine years before receiving permission to marry her.
His father, King Olav, had hoped the crown prince would marry a European princess. Harald eventually told him that if he could not marry Sonja, he would remain single, he later told Norway’s public broadcaster.
Olav finally gave his consent, and Harald and Sonja married at Oslo Cathedral on August 29, 1968.
The decision opened the door for Harald’s own children to marry commoners. Vagle said it "helped bring an end to a very male-dominated Royal Family".
"He has never been afraid to show emotion, humour or vulnerability, and that has made him very human," Vagle said.
Harald became regent in 1990 when his father fell ill. He became king on January 17, 1991, following Olav’s death.
According to historian Trond Norén Isaksen, Harald became more confident in his role around 2000, moving from being reserved, serious and shy to becoming more open and understanding.
One of the defining moments of his reign came in July 2011, when neo-Nazi Anders Breivik carried out attacks in Oslo and on Utøya.
Breivik killed eight people with a car bomb in Oslo before travelling to a youth camp on Utøya, where he shot dead 69 people, most of them teenagers.
Harald addressed the nation on television the following day and later delivered an emotional speech in which he spoke to victims and their families as a father, grandfather, husband and king.
"I can only imagine the depth of your pain. As King of this nation, I feel for each and every one of you," he said.
Looking back on the moment, Schulsrud-Hansen said: "I think that moment has been burned into our minds of what a monarchy should be."
Harald again drew attention in 2016 after delivering a strong speech in support of diversity in religion, ethnicity and sexual orientation.
He said Norwegians are from "Afghanistan, Pakistan and Poland, from Sweden, Somalia, and Syria," they "believe in God, Allah, the Universe and nothing", and they "are girls who love girls, boys who love boys, and girls and boys who love each other".
Away from royal duties, Harald was a keen athlete, sailor and environmentalist. He was among the people who helped establish the Norwegian branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature and served as president of its Norwegian chapter for 20 years.
He represented Norway in sailing at three Olympic Games and ended his competitive sailing career in 2022.
Harald also supported his family through a number of controversies.
When Haakon married Mette-Marit in 2001, Harald and Queen Sonja welcomed her four-year-old son, Marius Borg Høiby, from a previous relationship. He was treated as part of the family, although the royal household later made clear that he was never a member of the royal family.
Princess Märtha Louise also drew attention after first marrying a Norwegian writer and later marrying an American self-styled shaman in 2024. Their business activities eventually led to her stepping back from royal duties.
Vagle said some Norwegians may have felt Harald was too lenient over his family’s decisions, but believed he preferred discussion to punishment.
She said he had "shown himself to be someone who puts talking things through ahead of issuing harsh instructions".
Harald’s later years were marked by declining health. He permanently reduced his public engagements in April 2024.
He was later treated with cortisone for haemolytic anaemia, a rare blood condition that reduces the number of red blood cells in the body. He was admitted to hospital on August 17, with Haakon becoming regent and taking over his official duties.
The royal family has also faced intense public scrutiny over a series of personal challenges and scandals.
Marius Borg Høiby was convicted in June after a rape trial in Oslo and received a four-year prison sentence, which he has appealed. He was among those who appeared at Harald’s bedside shortly before the King died.
Around the same period, documents revealed Mette-Marit’s frequent contact with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. She later apologised to Harald and Queen Sonja over her three-year friendship with Epstein, admitting to "poor judgement" and saying in a national television interview that she wished she had never met him.
Two days after her son’s trial ended, Mette-Marit underwent a lung transplant. She had been diagnosed with a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis eight years earlier.
Her doctors are not expected to declare her stable until a year after the transplant, leaving the new King Haakon to navigate the early period of his reign while supporting his wife.
The controversies have also affected support for the monarchy. A poll for Aftenposten found that support had fallen from 72% in 2024 to 54%.
Other polls indicated that almost half of Norwegians believed Mette-Marit could no longer become queen, although Haakon is now highly likely to declare that she will become queen.
Despite the wider concerns surrounding the monarchy, criticism was rarely aimed directly at Harald.
Vagle said this left her with the feeling that "everyone has loved King Harald".
"When things go wrong in the royal family, people tend to blame anyone but the king," Isaksen said.
Haakon has also faced questions about how the problems surrounding his family could "follow him into his position as a king". Taalesen, however, believes he has shown leadership in dealing with the recent challenges.
The royal family’s main approach has been to distance itself from Høiby’s trial, a strategy Schulsrud-Hansen believes has largely worked.
There could still be further attention on the Epstein files, but for now, the focus in Norway will turn to mourning Harald, remembering his long service to the country and supporting the new King.
After 35 years on the throne, Harald leaves behind a monarchy that became more open and closely connected to the public, while his personal style helped earn him a place as one of Norway’s most popular modern kings.