Princess Astrid of Norway, the sister of the late King Harald V, has died at the age of 94, two days after attending his funeral, the country’s royal palace has announced. The new king, Haakon VIII, said that “throughout her long life, Princess Astrid represented the Royal House in a warm and dutiful manner”. Harald
Norway’s Haakon VIII has sworn an oath before parliament in Oslo in the first major step of his reign as King. During Tuesday’s ceremony, parliament also held a minute’s silence for Haakon’s father, the late King Harald V, who died on Friday. Haakon’s wife, Queen Mette-Marit, was absent from the formalities as she continues to
He assumes his new role at a difficult time, as the royal family has faced health challenges and scandals this year. Mette-Marit came under scrutiny when it was revealed that she had had a three-year friendship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, for which she publicly apologised. She later received a lung transplant,
Haakon was ahead of his older sister, Princess Märtha Louise, in the line of succession. The constitution was changed in 1990 to give women the right to inherit the throne, so Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra is in line to be Norway’s first female head of state since the 15th Century. Haakon has become the king
Oslo’s Mayor Anne Lindboe has cancelled her own wedding because of the death of Norway’s King Harald V. The wedding with her fiance Pål Sandvid was planned for Friday but was postponed after the king died early on the same day, her political adviser confirmed to the BBC. “It’s hard to imagine an Oslo and
When Crown Prince Haakon married Mette-Marit in 2001, the king and queen welcomed her four-year-old son from a previous relationship. Marius Borg Høiby was treated as one of the family, but the royal house later stressed he was never a royal. The king’s daughter Princess Märtha Louise initially married a Norwegian writer before controversially remarrying
