The new king of Norway, who succeeds his father Harald V who died in the morning at the age of 89, has chosen the name Haakon VIII, the Norwegian government said on Friday.
“I will take the name Haakon VIII and I will keep the same motto that my father, my grandfather and my great-grandfather chose: ‘Everything for Norway’,” said the new 53-year-old sovereign, quoted in a government press release.
A promise of modernity, Haakon inherits a Norwegian crown that has long been held up as an example but recently weakened by a series of scandals. He accedes to the throne in the midst of contrary winds. The links of his wife Mette-Marit with the sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein, the conviction of his stepson for rape, and the escapades of the eccentric couple formed by his sister and a self-proclaimed American shaman have damaged the shine of the monarchy.
“Everything will be fine with him when the time comes. It’s reassuring to know that,” the late King Harald said of him in a book. “I think my father was more worried (Editor’s note: about the succession) than I am. I am fortunate that it is Crown Prince Haakon who will take over.”
The new king is in the image of his fellow citizens: modest, measured, avoiding pomp and ostentation. He adopted the concerns of his generation: defense of the environment, fight against racism, fight against homophobia… “It is important that we protect who we are and that Norway is a country where it is allowed to love and be with whoever we want,” he declared after a deadly attack targeting the LGBT+ community in Oslo in 2022.
Born on July 20, 1973, Haakon did part of his schooling in the public sector in accordance with the wishes of his parents, who were keen to immerse him among “ordinary” Norwegians. After a stint in the Navy where he served on a missile launcher, he obtained a degree in political science from the California University of Berkeley, then a Master’s degree in development studies from the London School of Economics.
A single mother will turn her life upside down
Passionate about board sports and music, Haakon met during a festival in 1999 the woman who would turn his life upside down – and cause a shock in the kingdom. Mette-Marit Tjessem is a single mother with a meager CV, who then gravitates into the excess-filled circles of “house”. She already has a little boy, Marius Borg Høiby, born in 1997 from a brief relationship with a man with a criminal record linked in particular to drugs. Norway adopted it quickly. The couple gave birth to Ingrid Alexandra, next in the line of succession, in January 2004 and to Sverre Magnus in December 2005.
But the clouds are gathering. A fan of alternative therapies, Haakon’s older sister, Märtha-Louise, is accused of exploiting her title of princess for commercial purposes and reignites the controversy by marrying a self-proclaimed shaman, the American Durek Verrett, described as a dangerous “charlatan” by his detractors.
He treats Marius like his own son
Then come the trials with Marius, whom Haakon treats like his own son. Arrested in August 2024, he was sentenced to four years in prison for rape and violence. He is in pre-trial detention under an electronic bracelet while awaiting his appeal trial.
At the same time, the Norwegian press multiplied the revelations on the disturbing past friendship between Mette-Marit and the sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein in the early 2010s. Even if the American financier had already been convicted in court for soliciting a minor, Mette-Marit had maintained a sustained correspondence with him, often in an accomplice tone. She will say she was “manipulated and deceived”.
“When you get married, it’s for better or for worse,” said Haakon in March 2026 during a television interview with the couple. These scandals have damaged the image of the monarchy and undermined support for the royal family, which is nevertheless still popular, in the Scandinavian country.
Haakon “showed that he knew how to keep calm in the storm, and this is a very precious quality for a monarch,” underlines Caroline Vagle, journalist specializing in royalty, with AFP. “He also had the best possible teacher in his father,” she adds. In the latest available poll, taken in March, nearly eight in ten Norwegians thought he would make a good king.
