Norway bid farewell to King Harald V on Wednesday during a funeral in his image, open and unifying, in the presence of Volodymyr Zelensky and Prince William.
After a funeral procession through the crowded capital and a religious ceremony in the Lutheran cathedral of Oslo, the remains of Harald, who died on August 28 at the age of 89, were taken to the church of Akershus Castle, his final resting place.
Dean, until his death, of the sovereigns in Europe, Harald was a popular figure despite the scandals which splashed his family at the end of his reign.
“It was important to show our respect to the king,” Liv Dingsør, 48, who came to attend the funeral procession, like 48,000 other people according to the police, told AFP. “Coming together in this kind of moment of national mourning is very important.”
Placed on a gun mount and covered with a royal flag, the remains were transported along Oslo’s main thoroughfare, followed, on foot, by Harald’s son and successor, Haakon VIII, his children and his sister, as well as numerous Norwegian and foreign dignitaries.
Only Harald’s widow, Queen Sonja, aged 89, and the new Queen Mette-Marit, convalescing since a lung transplant in June, traveled by car.
In addition to the Ukrainian president and the heir to the British crown, the Scandinavian royal families, the Spanish, Belgian and Dutch royal couples, the crown prince of Japan, the German and Finnish presidents, as well as the French and Thai prime ministers took part in the funeral.
Sarcophagus
The religious ceremony began at 1 p.m. with a minute of silence, observed throughout the country.
“He made what was solemn human,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said in his eulogy. “He made Norway greater, speaking of a Norwegian ‘we’ where everyone has their place.”
Under house arrest while awaiting his appeal trial, Mette-Marit’s son, Marius Borg Høiby, convicted in June for rape and violence in particular, was able to attend the funeral.
At the end of the religious service, four F-35 fighters flew over the cathedral in “missing man” formation, while the coffin was taken to the Akershus Castle Church to the sound of Chopin’s “Funeral March”.
After a private ceremony, he was to be lowered into the crypt of the royal mausoleum, adjoining the church, near the sarcophagi of Harald’s parents and grandparents. He himself will rest in a sarcophagus costing 1.7 million euros, the appearance of which remains a well-kept secret.
Having ascended the throne in 1991, Harald had always ruled out abdicating despite multiple health problems.
The embodiment of an open and tolerant country, he made an impression by celebrating diversity in a speech in 2016.
“Norwegians are girls who love girls, boys who love boys, and boys and girls who love each other,” he said. “Norwegians believe in God, Allah, the universe and nothing at all.”
In the same spirit, different faiths were represented during the religious ceremony. A member of the Sámi minority also delivered a tribute in his language.
Once the burial is complete, the flags will again be hoisted to the top of the masts and the bells of the country’s churches will ring for an hour.
The funeral was held under high security with nearly 3,000 police officers mobilized.
Revamped monarchy
The square in front of the palace has in recent days been largely covered with flowers, drawings, flags and candles in homage to the “grandfather of the nation”.
“He was like the beloved grandfather of a family, who accepted all his children and grandchildren, regardless of their appearance or their beliefs,” Arthur Fosheim told AFP.
Nearly three in four Norwegians (72%) say they support the monarchy, an increase of eight points from a previous survey in May, according to a poll taken after the king’s death and published last week.
Support for the monarchy fell to its lowest in February (60%).
The royal family was then rocked by a series of scandals.
Mette-Marit, in particular, was under fire for her past ties to American sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein and her son’s legal woes.
If Haakon VIII, 53, is very popular, opinions on the new queen, also 53, remain very divided in Norway.
