Norway’s King Harald dies aged 89

When Crown Prince Haakon married Mette-Marit in 2001, the king and queen welcomed her four-year-old son from a previous relationship. Marius Borg Høiby was treated as one of the family, but the royal house later stressed he was never a royal.

The king’s daughter Princess Märtha Louise initially married a Norwegian writer before controversially remarrying in 2024 to an American self-styled shaman. The couple’s business activities eventually led to her halting her royal duties.

While some Norwegians may have felt Harald was too lenient with his family’s controversial life decisions, Vagle believes he had “shown himself to be someone who puts talking things through ahead of issuing harsh instructions”.

As the king’s health declined, he permanently reduced his public engagements in April 2024.

More recently he was treated with cortisone for a rare blood condition, haemolytic anaemia, which causes the number of red blood cells in the body to be reduced. He entered hospital on 17 August and his son became regent, taking over his activities.

This year alone the Norwegian royal family has faced compounded personal health challenges and scandals that have left them under almost constant public scrutiny.

The rape trial of Marius Borg Høiby, convicted of a litany of offences by judges in Oslo in June, hung over the royal family for many months. He has now appealed against a four-year jail term and appeared at Harald’s bedside shortly before he died.

Days before the trial began, documents were released revealing his mother Mette-Marit’s frequent contact with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

She later apologised to King Harald and Queen Sonja for her three-year friendship with Epstein and admitted to “poor judgement”, adding in a national TV interview that she wished she had never met him.

Two days after her son’s trial came to an end, Mette-Marit received a lung transplant. She had been diagnosed with a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis eight years earlier.

Her doctors will not declare her stable until a year after the transplant, and the new king will face a difficult period of succession as he continues to support her.

The crises surrounding the monarchy have had an effect on its popularity. One poll for Aftenposten newspaper found that support had dropped from 72% in 2024 to 54%.

Other polls suggested almost half of Norwegians believed Mette-Marit could no longer become queen, although Haakon is now highly likely to say she will become queen.

Despite that negative sentiment towards the monarchy, Vagle said criticism was rarely directed at the late king personally, leaving her with the impression that “everyone has loved King Harald”.

“When things go wrong in the royal family, people tend to blame anyone but the king,” historian Trond Norén Isaksen remarked.

Haakon has faced questions about how the turbulence surrounding his own household will “follow him into his position as a king”, according to Tove Taalesen, however she believes he has shown leadership and dealt with recent events well.

The royal family’s main strategy has been to separate itself from Marius Borg Høiby’s trial, and Ole-Jørgen Schulsrud-Hansen believes that has largely succeeded.

Although there may be further scrutiny over the Epstein files, the focus for Norwegians now will be on remembering a “greatly beloved king” and supporting his son.