Mounds of flowers, flags, cards and children’s drawings continued to pile up outside the Royal Palace in Oslo on Sunday, and at other royal-related sites around the country. So have all the rituals related to the throne change in Norway, after King Harald V died early Friday morning and his son immediately took over as King Haakon VIII.
It’s been an extraordinary and emotional past few days, especially in Oslo, but all the procedures and players were already in place. After news of King Harald V’s failing health spread, officials in all branches of government cleared their calendars and those out traveling even flew swiftly home. When the news came early Friday morning that King Harald V had died at the national hospital in Oslo, all the formal mechanisms tied to a royal succession clicked into high gear.
“When the phone rang (just after King Harald’s death at 6:35am Friday), the voice at the other end said, ‘this is the king calling,'” related Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who’s had close contact with Norway’s royal family for years. It was the former Crown Prince Haakon on the line, after immediately succeeding his father, and he hardly needed to say anything more: “That’s why we have the saying, ‘the king is dead, long live the king,” Støre remarked.
That set off an immediate chain of events including the formal public announcement that was broadcast over all channels at Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) and other media, followed by an extraordinary session of the Council of State between the new King Haakon VIII and his daughter, the new Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra, and all government ministers. That meeting involved confirmation of the royall successor’s name and motto and even a special flag-lowering and raising again outside the palace:
Despite the immediacy of the actual succession, the formalities around it take more time. They will include a swearing-in ceremony of sorts at the Norwegian Parliament on Tuesday, at which the new King Haakon VIII will vow to uphold Norway’s constitution as he assumes the role of Norway’s head of state.
Prime Minister Støre, meanwhile, addressed the nation and held a press conference, at which he expressed gratitude for King Harald’s service as monarch over the past 35 years. “We will remember King Harald for his love of Norway’s people, for his humour and warmth,” Støre said in his prepared remarks. “An entire nation is in sorrow, and its people deeply grateful.”
That’s been confirmed through all the public’s tokens of appreciation left outside the palace, also while King Harald was still on his deathbed. “He was a man with respect for tradition,” Støre said, “but with the courage to help take the nation into new times.”
The prime minister remarked how Norway has changed and developed so much since King Harald succeeded his own father, the late King Olav V, in January 1991. That was before Norway’s oil wealth really began flowing and before Norway really became the wealthy and highly modern nation it is today: “The country became richer, our population grew and we became more diverse,” Støre noted.
He went on to note that the public reaction to King Harald’s death is very strong, attributing that to “the position King Harald had. Our joys and sorrows were also the king’s joys and sorrows.”
“Harald contributed himself to give the new Norway a way of describing Norwegians with all our differences,” Støre said. “Our king was just that, our king.”
Now King Haakon VIII is taking over, and Støre has no doubt Haakon will follow in his father’s footsteps, continue his work and enhance it. “I don’t think it’s possible to imagine anyone more qualified, more experienced and more prepared than King Haakon,” Støre said. Haakon, age 53, has been an active crown prince after graduating from the University of California and Berkeley and studying further at the London School of Economics. King Haakon has traveled the world, has a keen interest in interest international affairs and a military background and education before he left for Berkeley.
Haakon has also been stepping in often for his elderly father as regent and thus acting head of state. He was quick to hail his father during his own televised address to the nation on Saturday evening, after two very long and demanding days after his father died.
“King Harald represented Norway and Norwegians with price and joy,” his son said, as he also shared memories of his father that many remember. Most important, according to Haakon, was that his father “held firm to his values and his obligations,” something Haakon intends to continue.
“He supported and took care of us all,” Haakon said. “It makes me proud to think about all he did and stood up for.” He thanked his father for being “warm and secure, funny, wise and generous … but with a natural authority.” Haakon described his father as “a good listener” and said he’ll miss his father’s laughter. He praised his father for being a unifying factor in Norway, “and bringing us together by putting words on who we Norwegians really are.” He also hailed his mother (who retains her title as Queen Sonja), “for contributing to making them a strong royal couple” and being active in their work.
“Now it’s my turn,” King Haakon said, claiming he was grateful to have his own family around him and for the support he receives from his wife, now Queen Mette-Marit, “and from our children.” Mette-Marit has been seriously ill and her son from an earlier relationship, Marius Borg Høiby, has caused lots of trouble and remains in police custody while appealing a recent jail term, but their daughter (now Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra) joined Haakon at the Council of State on Friday and Prince Sverre Magnus has also been taking part in family obligations even though he’s due to soon be starting college in Portugal. Ingrid Alexandra has been studying at the University of Sydney in Australia, but is spending this semester at the University of Oslo given all family obligations.
Haakon said his family wants “to be close to the people and listen to them,” adding that “the queen, Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra and I will always try to understand others’ various life situations.” He stressed that they all believe in “a society built on law and order, where everyone has equal rights” and in Norway’s democracy. That’s why he chose to continue with his father’s, grandfather’s and great-grandfather’s motto, Alt for Norge (Everything for Norway).
The new king spoke after the body of his late father had been driven in a solemn vehicular procession from the national hospital (Rikshospitalet) to the Royal Palace, where the coffin will be open for public viewing until funeral ceremonies week after next. Norwegians spontaneously lined the funeral route, and crowds thickened as the procession approached the popular Majorstuen district and ultimately the palace grounds.
King Haakon VIII and his immediate family rode in the first car following the hearse, followed by Queen Sonja and her daughter Princess Martha Louise, and other family members. Upon arrival at the palace, the leader of the palace staff led the hearse into the palace courtyard, followed by the late king’s private secretary and eight of his closeest military officers and advisers.
King Harald’s coffin will then go on public display in the palace chapel, where he and other family members have traditionally gone through baptismal and confirmation ceremonies. Funeral arrangments were pending, but the coffin will traditionally be rolled down Karl Johan’s gate in a formal procession on foot from the palace to the Oslo Cathedral. Prime Minister Støre said on Sunday, after special church services were held all over the country, that the funeral is likely to be held during the week after next, when the current pperiod of national mourning period will end.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
