Norway on Wednesday bid farewell to King Harald V, the country’s longest-reigning monarch and a widely respected figure whose final years were overshadowed by a series of scandals.
The funeral was attended by foreign dignitaries, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Britain’s Prince William, as well as European royals and other world leaders.
The funeral procession left the Royal Palace in Oslo at noon, with Harald’s coffin draped in Norway’s red royal banner and adorned with white flowers. It was carried on an artillery carriage through the city’s main avenue to Oslo Cathedral, where a religious service was scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
Norway’s royal family, led by King Haakon VIII, followed the procession on foot alongside foreign royals, heads of state and other dignitaries.
Harald’s widow, 89-year-old Queen Sonja, and the new Queen Mette-Marit, who underwent a lung transplant in June, travelled by car.
Marius Borg Høiby, Mette-Marit’s son from a previous relationship, was also permitted to attend while under house arrest pending an appeal against his conviction for rape and assault.
Other guests included Scandinavian royal families, the royal couples of Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands, the Crown Prince of Japan, the presidents of Finland and Germany, and the prime ministers of France and Thailand.
Following the service, four F-35 fighter jets were expected to fly over the cathedral in a “missing man” formation as the coffin was taken to the chapel at Akershus Castle.
The king was to be buried in the royal mausoleum alongside his parents and grandparents.
Flags across Norway, lowered to half-mast following Harald’s death, were to be raised again after the burial, while church bells were expected to ring for an hour.
About 3,000 police officers and 3,500 soldiers were deployed for the ceremony, with extensive airspace restrictions imposed over eastern Norway.
Harald, who ascended the throne in 1991, was the oldest reigning monarch in Europe until his death. Despite declining health in his later years, he repeatedly ruled out abdication and remained highly popular among Norwegians.
He was widely seen as a symbol of an open and tolerant Norway, particularly after a speech in 2016 marking the 25th anniversary of his reign in which he celebrated diversity and inclusion.
More than 46,000 people filed past his coffin during the week, with some waiting for hours to pay their final respects. Flowers, candles and drawings were also left outside the Royal Palace.
A national opinion poll conducted after Harald’s death showed that 72 per cent of Norwegians supported the monarchy, an increase of eight percentage points from a May survey.
However, the new royal household faces challenges, with Queen Mette-Marit facing criticism over her past links to convicted American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and her son’s legal troubles.
King Haakon VIII, 53, remains popular, while public opinion about the new queen remains divided.
