Europe's royalty pay respects to King Harald V in Norway
The Prince of Wales and three Nordic kings were among those who attended proceedings on Wednesday.
Europe’s royalty pay tribute to King Harald V in Norway
Dozens of European royals and heads of state, among them the Prince of Wales and three Nordic kings, have paid their final respects to King Harald V in Oslo.
Thousands of people lined the route for a funeral procession from the royal palace to Oslo Cathedral on Wednesday afternoon, almost two weeks after the king died aged 89.
Following the ceremony and burial, the Norwegian royal family — including the new King Haakon, his wife Queen Mette-Marit, and his mother and Harald’s widow Queen Sonja — greeted crowds from the palace balcony.
A minute’s silence was also observed across the country. Harald, regarded as a popular, modernising figure, spent 35 years on the Norwegian throne.
After 13 days of national mourning, Wednesday began with ceremonial troops gathering at Akershus Fortress, the medieval castle where Harald was later laid to rest.
A procession then followed, with Haakon, his sister Princess Märtha Louise and his children Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus walking behind the late king’s coffin.
Mette-Marit, who recently underwent a successful lung transplant, and Sonja, 89, followed by car.
Prince William, representing his father King Charles III, attended the funeral alongside the Princess Royal, who was there in a personal capacity as godmother to Norway’s new monarch.
They were among 30 royal figures from Sweden, Jordan, Monaco, Belgium, Spain, Japan and Denmark.
Non-royal heads of state at the funeral included Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, along with five foreign prime ministers.
Princess Anne, who is King Haakon’s godmother, was also at the funeral.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier were also seen following King Harald’s coffin.
During the cathedral funeral service, Mette-Marit was seen wiping her eyes as Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre delivered a eulogy, saying Harald had struck “a balance between being stately and down-to-earth and that he had “made Norway greater”.
Queen Sonja, who was also visibly emotional during the ceremony, placed a red rose on Harald’s coffin.
A moving moment came when three bell tolls marking the end of a minute’s silence in the cathedral were briefly interrupted by a mobile phone alarm.
The day after his death, his son Haakon VIII thanked him for “being such a good dad” and said he had “always stayed true” to his values and commitments.
Royal observers have described the late king as widely respected and beloved, and as a “grandfather” of the nation.
In the final months of his life, he and his family had faced personal difficulties and scandal.
Earlier this year, documents revealed Mette-Marit’s frequent contact with Jeffrey Epstein. She later said she wished she had never met the late sex offender.
Meanwhile, her son, Marius Borg Høiby — who is not a royal figure himself but grew up within the family — was given a four-year jail term for two counts of rape in June.
Høiby, who is under house arrest pending appeal, was allowed to attend the funeral and sat in the second row during the cathedral ceremony alongside Märtha Louise’s children.
At the end of the service, four F-35 fighter jets flew over the cathedral in a “missing man” formation.
Harald’s casket was then taken in a procession to the Palace Chapel at Akershus Fortress, where a private ceremony was attended by family members, foreign royals and other guests including the country’s prime minister.
King Harald was laid to rest there alongside several members of the royal family, including his father King Olav V, his mother Crown Princess Märtha, and his grandparents, King Haakon VII and Queen Maud.
Norwegian flags across Oslo were raised from half mast to the top to mark the end of the burial, while the royal family returned to the royal palace.
In a show of gratitude for the support they had received since the king’s death on 28 August, the family — Haakon, Mette-Marit, Ingrid Alexandra, Sverre Magnus and Sonja — then appeared on the balcony to greet tens of thousands of people gathered outside.