King Harald V of Norway has died at the age of 89, the palace in Oslo has announced, triggering the succession of his son, Haakon, whose wife Mette-Marit’s association with Jeffrey Epstein has sparked fierce recent controversy.
“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,” the palace said in a statement.
The palace had announced on Thursday that Harald’s health had deteriorated and that he was in an “extremely serious” condition, prompting his wife, Queen Sonja, and Crown Prince Haakon, who was already acting as regent, to cancel engagements.
Harald, Norway’s ceremonial head of state since 1991, was Europe’s oldest reigning monarch. He had been being treated in Oslo’s University hospital since 17 August for haemolytic anaemia, a condition caused by an abnormally rapid destruction of the body’s red blood cells.
Media showed images of the queen, Haakon and the crown princess arriving at the hospital. The palace had announced last weekend that Harald, who enjoyed wide popularity, was receiving antibiotics for a bacterial infection in his blood.
The king had suffered numerous recent health problems, undergoing an operation for bladder cancer in 2003 and having a pacemaker fitted in 2024, but always ruled out abdicating, saying he had taken a lifelong oath before the Norwegian parliament.
His death comes amid a turbulent period for Norway’s royal family. Documents published in the US in January showed that Mette-Marit corresponded with Epstein, the late US sex offender, between 2011 and 2014, long after he was convicted.
The files appeared to contain almost 1,000 mentions of Matte-Marit, including intimate exchanges. They drew fierce public criticism, with Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, accusing her in unprecedented comments of “poor judgment”.
Mette-Marit subsequently released a statement via the royal household expressing her “deepest regret for my friendship with Jeffrey Epstein” and apologising for “the situation that I have put the royal family in, especially the king and queen”.
Marius Borg Høiby, 29, Mette-Marit’s son from a previous relationship, has also been in the spotlight after being sentenced in June to four years in prison for two rapes and 32 other charges, including violence against a former partner. He has appealed.
Mette-Marit, 53, who is suffering from a serious lung disease and underwent a transplant in July, was a single mother to Høiby, who was four years old when her engagement to Norway’s crown prince was announced in late 2000.
The marriage, which marked the first time in modern European history that a direct heir to a throne had brought a stepson into a royal family, sparked huge controversy in Norway but was strongly backed by King Harald and Queen Sonja.
Mette-Marit openly acknowledged what she described as a rebellious youth and prior drug use, holding an emotional press conference a week before the wedding in which she expressed regret for her choices and strongly condemned drug use.
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Public backing for Norway’s monarchy has suffered from the crown princess’s latest scandals, with a February poll finding support down to 54% from 72% in 2024. Several polls found nearly half of the population felt Mette-Marit could not become queen.
Harald is seen as the Norwegian monarchy’s great moderniser, revamping the crown estates and changing the way the court is run. He married Sonja, a commoner, in 1968 and welcomed two others, Mette-Marit and Ari Behn, as the spouses of his children.
He succeeded his father, Olav V, aged 54 after studying at Oxford and representing his country in sailing events at the Tokyo, Mexico City and Munich Olympics, and was appreciated in Norway for his unassuming lifestyle and efforts for national unity.
In an emotional speech in 2011, after Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 in two terror attacks, he told his subjects that as “a father, grandfather and spouse, I can only begin to sense some of the pain you feel. As king of the nation, I feel for every one of you.”
In 2016, he lauded diversity, tolerance and LGBT rights, saying Norwegians came from Afghanistan and Pakistan, believed “in God, in Allah and in nothing”, and included “girls who love girls, boys who love boys and girls and boys who love each other”.
In February he was admitted to hospital for an infection and dehydration in Tenerife, where he was on a private trip with the queen. Sonja, who is also 89, was herself briefly treated for heart problems in hospital in Norway three months later.
