Norway’s King Harald dies at 89

Prince Haakon, and five grandchildren. (Reuters)

Norway’s King Harald has died at the age of 89, the palace said on Friday.

His 53-year-old son Crown Prince Haakon is automatically succeeding him on the throne.

“It is with deep sadness that we announce that His Majesty King Harald passed away today. King Harald passed away peacefully at Oslo University Hospital on Friday, August 28 at 6:35 am,” (0435 GMT) it said in a statement.

The flag at the royal palace in Oslo was lowered to half-mast, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

Europe’s oldest reigning monarch, King Harald had been in hospital in Oslo since August 17 suffering from haemolytic anaemia, a condition caused by an abnormally rapid destruction of red blood cells which leads to fatigue and shortness of breath.

The royal family had rushed to his bedside on Thursday as the palace announced that Harald’s condition was “extremely serious”.

His wife Queen Sonja, Haakon and his wife Mette-Marit and their adult children spent much of Thursday at his bedside, with media reporting that Haakon kept vigil overnight.

The public streamed to the palace in central Oslo for a second straight day on Friday, laying flowers on the ground and huddling in groups.

Kaspara Bolstad, 24, told AFP Harald had been “a very steady and warm king”.

“I think the entire Norwegian people see him as a role model and as someone who brings people together. Whether you’re for or against the monarchy, I think he’s well-liked across the board,” she said.

Magnus Skaugseth, 27, agreed.

“He was so inclusive and committed to having values that are inclusive in the society we live in today. When there is so much division and polarisation, he was a pillar pointing in the opposite direction.”

Harald, who ascended the Norwegian throne in 1991, had had multiple health problems in recent years, forcing him to have a pacemaker fitted and to scale back his official schedule.

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But he always ruled out abdicating, arguing that he took a lifelong oath before the Norwegian parliament.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store had cancelled a work trip to Germany early Thursday due to the king’s deteriorating condition.

• Turbulent year –

The past year has been a turbulent one for the Norwegian royal family.

In February, King Harald was hospitalised for an infection and dehydration in Tenerife, where he was on a private trip with Queen Sonja.

His wife, also 89, was briefly admitted to hospital in May due to heart problems.

Haakon’s wife Mette-Marit is under scrutiny for her ties to the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Documents published in January in the United States revealed her sustained and at times intimate correspondence with Epstein between 2011 and 2014, at a time when the American financier had already been convicted.

Mette-Marit’s son from a relationship prior to her marriage to Haakon, Marius Borg Hoiby, is also in the spotlight as a result of his legal troubles.

He was sentenced in June to four years in prison for two rapes and 32 other charges, including violence against a former partner. He has appealed the verdict.

Suffering herself from a serious lung disease, Mette-Marit, 53, had to undergo a lung transplant in July.

The royals remain broadly popular with the Norwegian public, in large part to Harald’s unifying status and his unassuming, modest lifestyle.