King Harald V of Norway died peacefully at Oslo University Hospital on Friday 28 August at 6.35am, the palace said; he was 89. His son Crown Prince Haakon automatically succeeds as King Haakon VIII and will formally notify the government later on Friday. Flags across Norway were lowered to half-mast and church bells were to ring at midday. Harald had been treated at Oslo University Hospital since 17 August for haemolytic anaemia and had previously had bladder cancer surgery in 2003 and a pacemaker fitted in 2024; he repeatedly ruled out abdicating. The succession unfolds amid controversy after documents published in January showed that Crown Princess Mette-Marit corresponded with Jeffrey Epstein between 2011 and 2014, which drew sharp public criticism and prompted Mette-Marit to issue a statement of “deepest regret for my friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.” Mette-Marit, 53, who had a lung transplant in July, is also in the spotlight because her son Marius Borg Høiby, 29, was in June sentenced to four years in prison for two rapes and 32 other charges and has appealed. Norway’s prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre paid tribute to Harald’s decades of service and described the nation as being in mourning.
