The state of health of King Harald of Norway, aged 89 and hospitalized for complications linked to a blood disease, “worsened” this weekend, the Norwegian Royal Palace announced on Sunday.
Dean of sovereigns in Europe, Harald V suffers from hemolytic anemia, a blood disease which results in an abnormally rapid destruction of red blood cells, and has been hospitalized for almost a week at the Oslo National Hospital.
“The state of health of His Majesty the King worsened over the weekend,” the Palace said in a statement. “The King is receiving antibiotics to treat a bacterial infection in his blood and has responded well to this treatment,” he added.
His loved ones follow one another at his bedside
In recent days, several members of his family, including his son Crown Prince Haakon, regent in his absence, have taken turns at his bedside in the hospital. The monarch was admitted there last Monday for water retention caused by his cortisone treatment, which caused him to be placed on sick leave for two weeks.
Having ascended the Norwegian throne in 1991, the sovereign has experienced multiple health problems for several years, but he has always ruled out abdicating.
The royal family splashed by scandals
In recent months, the Norwegian royal family has been splashed by several scandals, notably linked to Crown Princess Mette-Marit, married to Haakon. The publication of the Epstein files at the end of January highlighted his sustained and sometimes intimate correspondence with the sex criminal between 2011 and 2014, when the American financier had already been convicted.
The princess also had to deal with the legal troubles of her son, Marius Borg Høiby, 29 years old. Born from a relationship prior to the marriage of Mette-Marit and Haakon in 2001, he was sentenced in June to 4 years in prison for two rapes and 32 other charges, including violence against a former partner. He appealed.
Suffering from an incurable lung disease herself, Mette-Marit, 53, also had to undergo a lung transplant in July.
