By Ingrid "Shortwave" Frost
King Harald V of Norway died early Friday at Oslo University Hospital, the royal palace said, ending a 35-year reign that reshaped how Norwegians saw their monarchy. He was 89.
"It is with deep sadness that we announce that His Majesty King Harald passed away today. King Harald passed away peacefully at Oslo University Hospital on Friday, August 28 at 6.35 am," the palace said in a statement, as reported by The Guardian.
Harald's life bent around exile and defiance. As a boy during the Nazi occupation of Norway, he fled with his family to the United States. As a young man, he broke royal convention by refusing a string of European noblewomen and marrying his school sweetheart instead — a commoner, according to NPR News. He later used his throne to celebrate the country's diversity in a speech that became one of the defining moments of his reign, the BBC reported.
His son, Crown Prince Haakon, now becomes King Haakon VIII. But the succession is not free of controversy. The Guardian reports that Haakon's wife, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, corresponded with the late American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein between 2011 and 2014 — years after his conviction. That correspondence has become a live political sore point in Norway just as the country turns to mourn its old king and crown its new one.
Norwegians now face a strange pairing of moods: grief for a monarch who spent decades trying to make the crown feel ordinary, and unresolved questions about the household he leaves behind. The palace has not detailed funeral arrangements.
FILED FROM SOMEWHERE WITH BAD COFFEE —
— Compiled from reporting by The Guardian, NPR News and the BBC.
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