Dozens of European royals and heads of state, including the Prince of Wales and three Nordic kings, have paid their last respects to King Harald V in Oslo. Thousands of people lined the route during a funeral procession from the royal palace to Oslo Cathedral on Wednesday afternoon, nearly two weeks after the king died aged 89. After the ceremony and burial, the Norwegian royal family, including the new King Haakon, his wife Queen Mette-Marit, and his mother and Harald’s widow Queen Sonja greeted crowds from the palace balcony. A minute’s silence was also observed throughout the country.
Harald, who was seen as a popular, modernising figure, was on the Norwegian throne for 35 years. After 13 days of national mourning, the day began on Wednesday with ceremonial troops assembling at Akershus Fortress, the medieval castle where Harald was later laid to rest. A procession then took place, with Haakon, his sister Princess Märtha Louise and his children Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus, following the late king’s coffin on foot. Mette-Marit, who recently underwent a successful lung transplant, and Sonja, 89, followed in a car.
Prince William, representing his father King Charles III, attended the funeral alongside the Princess Royal, who was there in a personal capacity as godmother to Norway’s new monarch. They were among 30 royal figures from Sweden, Jordan, Monaco, Belgium, Spain, Japan and Denmark. Among the non-royal heads of state attending the funeral were Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier along with five foreign prime ministers. During the funeral service at the cathedral, Mette-Marit was seen wiping her eyes, as Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre delivered a eulogy, saying Harald had struck “a balance between being stately and down-to-earth and that he had “made Norway greater”.
Queen Sonja, who was also visibly emotional during the ceremony, laid a red rose on Harald’s coffin. A poignant moment as three bell tolls marking the end of a minute’s silence in the cathedral was briefly interrupted by a mobile phone alarm going off. The day after his death, his son Haakon VIII thanked him for “being such a good dad” and said he had “always stayed true” to his values and commitments. Royal observers have described the late king as well respected and beloved, and who was seen as a “grandfather” of the nation.
In the final months of his life, he and his family had faced personal challenges and scandal. Earlier this year, documents revealed Mette-Marit’s frequent contact with Jeffrey Epstein. She later said she wished she had never met the late sex offender. Meanwhile, her son, Marius Borg Høiby – who is not a royal figure himself but grew up within the family – was given a four-year jail term for two counts of rape in June.
Høiby, who is under house arrest pending appeal, was granted permission to attend the funeral, and sat in the second row during the cathedral ceremony alongside Märtha Louise’s children. At the end of the service, four F-35 fighter jets flew over the cathedral in a “missing man” formation. Harald’s casket was then carried in a procession to the Palace Chapel at Akershus Fortress, where a private ceremony was attended by family members, foreign royals and other guests including the country’s prime minister. King Harald was laid to rest there alongside several members of the royal family, including his father King Olav V, his mother Crown Princess Märtha, and his grandparents, King Haakon VII and Queen Maud.
Norwegian flags across Oslo were raised from half mast to the top to mark the end of the burial, while the royal family returned to the royal palace. In a display of gratitude for the support they had received since the king’s death on 28 August, the family – Haakon, Mette-Marit, Ingrid Alexandra, Sverre Magnus and Sonja – then appeared on the balcony to greet tens of thousands of people who had gathered outside. Norway’s King Harald dies aged 89: A beloved monarch buffeted by family crises
