On Sunday, Haakon VIII, the new ruler of Norway, paid tribute to his father, King Harald, died at age 89 on Friday and whose funeral will take place on September 9. “The funeral ceremony for King Harald V will take place at Oslo Cathedral on Wednesday September 9 at 1:00 p.m.” local time, the Palace announced, specifying that the coffin would be transferred Monday afternoon to the palace chapel, where Norwegians will be able to “say farewell” to the deceased from Tuesday and until the day before the funeral.
From Sunday, ceremonies were organized across the country in memory of the king, who is very popular in Norway. Thousands of people gathered in front of the Palace. Among them, Henning Rosholt, a 62-year-old oil worker, came to lay flowers. “I felt like it was something I had to do. For our king,” he told AFP. Ida Bodal, 43, greeted a king whom she considered a “grandfather” of the people. “He was a moral compass for Norway,” she said.
In front of Oslo Cathedral, where the government attended the service, hundreds of people also queued to try to get a place. “The death of King Harald touched me deeply. I felt the need to be part of the community and share the grief caused by his death,” said Aud Ragnhild Skar, a lecturer at the University of Oslo.
See the new king
In his sermon, Bishop Sunniva Gylver highlighted King Harald’s ability to bring comfort to a world facing wars, climate change and increasing polarization. “King Harald highlighted many of these challenges in his speeches to us, and in doing so he gave us the opportunity to discuss major and important issues together,” she said.
Norwegians also gathered in front of Asker Church, south of Oslo, in the hope of seeing the new 53-year-old king, who arrived accompanied by his daughter, Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra, his son, Prince Sverre Magnus, as well as King Harald’s widow, Queen Sonja. The new sovereign’s wife, Queen Mette-Marit, who suffers from an incurable lung disease, did not attend the ceremony, still recovering from a lung transplant in June.
Oath Tuesday
Haakon VIII will take the oath of allegiance to the Constitution on Tuesday. He is not expected to be crowned, a practice abolished in 1908, but could choose, like his father and grandfather, to have his reign blessed in a ceremony at Trondheim Cathedral, where Norwegian kings were crowned between 1814 and 1906.
Harald V, who ascended the throne in 1991, was seen as the embodiment of an open and tolerant Norway. “Above all, you were a person who remained true to your values and devoted to your duties,” Haakon said of his father, during his first public speech, broadcast Saturday on national television. The new sovereign also said he was “deeply moved to see all these people, these candles, these messages and these flowers filling the Palace Square”.
Eventful year
Hospitalized since August 17Harald suffered from hemolytic anemia, a blood disease caused by an abnormally rapid destruction of red blood cells. For several years, he had been facing multiple health problems, which had forced him to reduce his official commitments. But he has always ruled out abdicating, arguing that he had taken a lifelong oath before Parliament.
The last few months have been eventful for the Norwegian royal family. Queen Sonja, also 89, was herself briefly hospitalized in May due to heart problems. Mette-Marit is under fire from criticism for his links to American sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein and his son’s conviction for rape.
