King Harald V of Norway dies at 89 following illness in hospital

The royal palace of Norway has announced that King Harald V of Norway has died aged 89.

The royal palace said he died at the National Hospital in Oslo on Friday at 6:35am. Harald was Europe’s oldest monarch.

The popular king modernised the royal house but refused to follow in the footsteps of other ageing monarchs who have abdicated in recent times.

His son now automatically becomes King Haakon VIII.

Harald had been in hospital since August 17, receiving treatment for a blood condition.

The royal household said on Thursday that his condition had become “extremely serious”.

Flowers and Norway’s flags are laid at the Palace Square in Oslo, Friday. / Credit: AP

“A whole nation is in mourning, and the people of Norway are left with a deep sense of gratitude for a long life in the service of Norway,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said in a statement.

“For more than three decades as monarch, Harald V demonstrated an unwavering faith in the Norwegian people. He helped us to see the best in ourselves — and in one another.”

Like other royal houses in Europe, the Norwegian monarchs serve a largely symbolic role, enjoying celebrity status while power in the democracy of 5.5 million rests with an elected parliament.

King Charles issued a statement on Friday expressing his and Camilla’s “most profound sadness” after learning of the death of his “dear cousin”.

Flags are now flying at half-mast at Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyrood House and will remain at half-mast until 8pm tonight.

King Harald was the second cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.

“For thirty-five years, King Harald served his people with unwavering dedication, guiding Norway through times of great change with warmth and humility,” King Charles said in a statement.

“As Norway mourns the loss of so towering a figure, my whole family join in remembering a much-loved kinsman and friend whose kindness, compassion and deep sense of duty echoed from across the sea and across the decades.”

Flowers left at Slottsplassen after officials announced that King Harald V was in ‘very serious condition’ this week. / Credit: AP

Charles added that the UK and Norway “share particularly close historical and family ties”, with Britain being “one of the first countries to recognise Norwegian independence” and to establish diplomatic relations.

“These special bonds were even further strengthened during the dreadful trials of the Second World War and helped to bind our two countries together”, he said.

Harald was crowned king after his British-born father, King Olav V, died in January 1991, and reigned during an oil-and-gas-driven economic boom in his country.

He went into exile in the United States as a child during the Nazi occupation of his homeland and refused a string of European noblewomen in order to marry his school sweetheart.

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.

When Harald assumed the throne in 1991, he adopted the same motto his father and grandfather had used: “All for Norway.”

He spent the next years trying to modernise the monarchy.

Recently, he united the country in mourning after the mass killings by right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik and gave an impassioned speech in support of LGBTQ+ equality, refugees and religious tolerance.

The Norwegian royal family faced unflattering attention in early 2026 as Harald’s daughter-in-law, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, faced renewed scrutiny over her connections with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Mette-Marit apologised 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 has no royal titles or official duties.

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 hospitalised twice on foreign trips after that, including during a 2024 vacation in Malaysia when he was fitted with a pacemaker and while dealing with a skin infection during a February 2026 holiday on the Spanish island of Tenerife.

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