From the Royal Palace of Norway, located in Oslo, you can reach, in a straight line, the city’s cathedral. Along the way, the Parliament stands, and that has been the symbolic route taken this Wednesday by the funeral procession accompanying the coffin of Harald V, who passed away on August 28 at the age of 89. After a religious service attended by members of all the royal houses — including Kings Felipe VI and Letizia, and Queen Sofía — 17 presidents and prime ministers, members of all Norwegian political parties, civil organizations, and the Armed Forces, the monarch was buried at the Akershus Fortress, next to the capital’s fjord.
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Thus symbolically concluding the 12 days of mourning for the late monarch, his son and new king, Haakon VIII, 53, faces the task of maintaining the monarchy’s popularity because family problems also affect the Nordic royal house, due to the scandal involving his wife, Queen Mette-Marit’s relationship with the deceased American pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and the June conviction of Marius Borg Høiby, her eldest son, to four years in prison for two rapes.
The organizational perfection of royal funerals is usually associated with the United Kingdom. In Norway, they bid farewell to Harald V with a sober and solemn procession that walked the kilometer separating the Royal Palace from the cathedral. It was led by Haakon VIII flanked by his two children: Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra, 22, and his brother, Prince Sverre Magnus, 20. They were accompanied by Princess Märtha Louise, Haakon’s older sister — although never with options to reign due to a Salic law that was not abolished until 1990. They walked at a slow pace of 60 steps per minute, which is half the speed of a traditional military parade, followed by the rest of the guests. Behind them, in a car, traveled the widowed Queen Sonia and the consort Queen Mette-Marit, recovering from a lung transplant performed last June. Due to complications from that operation, she could not attend her husband’s oath before Parliament on September 1. She was also not seen during the receiving line for foreign attendees at the funeral inside the Royal Palace.
The route to Oslo Cathedral that everyone took was flanked by hundreds of Norwegian citizens — about 180,000 people in the center; 53,000 along the procession; and about 224,000 in the urban periphery, according to the police. They wanted to say goodbye to a king who led the monarchy’s popularity polls for decades.
Once inside the cathedral, three bell tolls sounded at the beginning of the ceremony and a minute of silence was observed throughout the country. “The love between the people and King Harald has not ended. Love never ends because it is something stronger than us,” said Olav Fykse Tveit, president of the Church of Norway, of the Evangelical Lutheran confession, during the ceremony. “King Harald gave everything for Norway,” noted Masud Gharahkhani, president of Parliament. “He was an exceptional interlocutor,” assured Jonas Gahr Store, the country’s prime minister. “What a queen!” he added, looking at Sonia, the widowed sovereign. Next to the coffin were Kings Haakon and Mette-Marit with their children, Ingrid Alexandra and Sverre Magnus. On the other side were members of foreign royalty. The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, who attended with his wife, Olena, was applauded by the people as he left the temple. He arrived on Tuesday night and his attendance had not been announced in advance. Norway is a strategic ally and one of Ukraine’s biggest military supporters.
Haakon VIII inherits a popular monarchy, but burdened by family problems and scandals. Marius, the son Queen Mette-Marit had before marriage, has been sentenced to four years in prison for two rapes and is under house arrest — and will be for at least four more weeks. He attended the funeral with special permission from the judges and wearing an electronic ankle bracelet. While a week ago he was one of the eight who carried the coffin, this time he was not in the royal procession and arrived at the cathedral by car, entering with Durek Verret, the shaman and husband of Princess Märtha Louise, and her three daughters. They are Leah Isadora, Maud Angelica, and Emma Tallulah. Their father, writer and artist Ari Behn, took his own life on Christmas Day 2019.
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Adding to Marius’s legal situation, without institutional responsibility but raised like a prince, is his mother’s past close relationship with American pedophile Jeffrey Epstein when she was a princess, which came to light through hundreds of emails published in February. She had apologized for it in the past but never said the contact was so close, and today she is the lowest-rated member of the royal house. The new king will have to overcome both problems, although he arrives with the wave of sympathy that has bid farewell to his father.
Once the religious ceremony ended, the coffin was taken out of Oslo Cathedral and carried in procession to its burial place, Akershus Fortress, where it now rests alongside his parents and grandparents in the royal crypt. On this route, King Haakon VIII was accompanied by Kings Carl Gustaf of Sweden and Frederik X of Denmark. Four F-35 planes had flown over the Norwegian capital shortly before in honor of the sovereign. Thousands of people also gathered there.
The reigning Scandinavian houses are united by historical and family ties, and their current representatives attended in full. Norway, Sweden, and Denmark were united under one monarch between 1397 and 1523. They shared the same king but kept their own laws and customs. Sweden was the first to separate, followed by Denmark and Norway in 1814. Belonging to the House of Glücksburg, Harald V was the grandson of the Danish and English kings — today represented by William of England and Princess Anne — and was connected to the Swedes through his maternal line. Harald’s mother, Princess Märtha of Sweden, was the sister of Queen Astrid of Belgium, and that same maternal line linked him to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Additionally, the late monarch and King Felipe VI share Queen Victoria as an ancestor.
Since the death of Harald V — who reigned for more than three decades and always said he would never abdicate — until his burial, flags have flown at half-mast throughout the country. Once buried, they were raised again. Afterwards, Haakon and Mette-Marit greeted for the first time as king and queen from the balcony of the Royal Palace, first alone and then accompanied by their two children. Sonia of Norway joined them a little later. In the square, they were received by hundreds of onlookers amid constant applause and cheers, while some of those gathered sang the national anthem.
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