Norway’s King Harald dies peacefully at 89, son Crown Prince Haakon to succeed him

‘s King Harald died Friday at 89, the Royal House of Norway announced.

“It is with deep grief that we announce that His Majesty King Harald has passed away,” the royal palace said in a statement.

“King Harald died peacefully at Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet Friday 28 August at 6:35 AM,” the statement continued.

Harald, who was Europe’s oldest living monarch, was hospitalized with a blood infection on Aug. 17.

He had previously received a pacemaker after falling ill during a vacation in Malaysia in 2024. 

Harald announced he would be drawing down his number of public appearances that same year.

The monarch had served as Norway’s head of state since 1991. He was Norway‘s first royal heir to be born in the country in more than 500 years. In 1905, after Norway gained its independence from Sweden, Harald’s grandfather, King Haakon VII, became the first king of an independent Norwegian state since 1387.

Harald was viewed as a reformer and advocated for his fellow European royals to continue a trend towards openness with the public. 

“If you’ve opened the gate it’s very difficult to close it again,” he told Reuters. “I’m not sure I’d want to close it. So far so good, as far as I’m concerned.” 

When the Nazis invaded Norway in 1940, Harald’s mother fled with him, first to neutral Sweden, then to the United States, where they briefly lived in the White House after then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt offered the pair safe haven. 

Harald, his mother and his sisters soon moved to Bethesda, Maryland and would often meet with Roosevelt, who Harald said was like a grandfather to him. 

Harald’s son, Crown Prince Haakon, 53, will succeed him and take the name King Haakon VIII.

Haakon and his wife, who will become Queen Mette-Marit, have been since it was revealed she exchanged emails with and had multiple meetings with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

Mette-Marit said she regrets her ties to the deceased billionaire and claimed she had no knowledge of his sordid past while communicating with him. 

Additionally, Mette-Marit’s son, Marius Borg Høiby, who she had from a previous marriage, was convicted of and domestic violence in June. He was sentenced to four years in prison, and both he and prosecutors are appealing the sentence. 

Reuters contributed to this report.