New setback in the health of King Harald of Norway. As the royal family announced this Wednesday, January 31, in a short statement – published only in Norwegian on the official website of the royal family – the ruler is on sick leave due to a respiratory infection and had to interrupt his schedule for a few days. Harald V, 86, will stay away from the official events he has planned until February 2 and his son, Crown Prince Haakon, will act as regent and direct his father's activities in the coming days.
Harald of Norway, the only ruler of Europe to sit on the throne since the 20th century after the abdication of Margaret of Denmark in January this year, had planned an official lunch for this Wednesday, at which he was replaced by his son. This afternoon, Haakon of Norway and his mother, Queen Sonja, will host a reception at the Royal Palace to inaugurate the 750th anniversary of Magnus Lagabøte's Land Law. Next Friday, his son will also have to represent him at several audiences that the monarch had to attend, including with the US ambassador and the foreign minister.
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The king, who turns 87 on February 21, has been hospitalized several times in recent months. Last May he was admitted because of an infection; a new hospitalization that added to two others the monarch suffered in less than a year. On these occasions, as today, his son represented him in his royal duties. In October 2020, the king underwent heart surgery to replace a valve that was inserted during open-heart surgery in 2005. Covid also put him in the hospital in March 2022, another time for knee surgery.
Haakon and Harald from Norway, during their visit to the media organization Faktisk on January 23, 2024 in Oslo. Rune Hellestad – Corbis (Corbis via Getty Images)
Despite his health problems, his mobility limitations and his age, Harald from Norway has never considered a possible abdication, at least that's what he says publicly. He has been on the throne since January 1991 following the death of his father, King Olav V, at the age of 87, and has recently taken it upon himself to clear up any speculation about a possible departure from the throne. On January 23, when asked by journalists during an event organized by the media organization Faktisk in Oslo, whether he had ever considered abdicating as Queen Margaret had just done, he replied: “I stand by what I said all day long .” I swore an oath to the Storting [el Parlamento noruego] for life,” said King Harald, referring to the promise he made to Parliament when he ascended the throne at the age of 53. In 2019, Crown Prince Haakon, who turned 50 last July, spoke about what it meant to replace his father at certain times: “I think we have managed the work together quite well so far. I look at it like we're a team. We distribute the work to achieve the best possible result. “I think we will continue to do this in the coming years,” said someone who has an increasingly narrow official agenda.
The next event on the official agenda of the king, who has already spent 33 years on the Nordic throne, is scheduled for February 4th, when he will have to take part in the national shooting championship in Stjørdal.