King Harald of Norway dead: Europe’s oldest reigning monarch has passed away at age 89 after health battle

King Harald of Norway dead: Europe’s oldest reigning monarch has passed away at age 89 after health battle King Harald of Norway has died in hospital in Oslo, after the Palace announced his health was deteriorating following a battle with a rare blood infection King Harald of Norway has died at the age of 89, after a short battle with a rare blood infection. The King was Europe’s oldest reigning monarch, having sat on the throne since 1991. The Norwegian Palace announced this week that the King had been hospitalised in Oslo with a rare condition called haemolytic anaemia, which is when the immune system attacks red blood cells. Earlier yesterday, the Royal Family issued an urgent statement saying his condition was ‘extremely serious’, as the King’s wife Queen Sonja, his son Crown Prince Haakon and his wife Crown Princess Mette-Marit, along with their children, gathered at his bedside in hospital. Upon the monarch's death, his son Prince Haakon now becomes King Haakon VIII. The Norwegian president cancelled his visit to Iceland earlier today and returned to Norway upon the news of the King’s worsening condition. The Palace confirmed the King’s condition within the last few weeks, saying he had "been treated with cortisone for the blood disease haemolytic anaemia. This has led to fluid accumulation in the body that requires treatment in hospital." The disorder typically results in fatigue and breathlessness. The sole cause of the condition is not always obvious, but it can be caused by infections, other autoimmune conditions or certain drugs. King Harald, who had been on the throne since 1991, has suffered a series of health issues in the past. In April 2024, Norway's royal household said that the King would make a ‘permanent reduction’ to his public engagements ‘out of consideration for his age’. That year, the king had been fitted with a pacemaker after falling ill on holiday in Malaysia. King Harald was also taken to hospital while on holiday in Tenerife in February after a health issue. Born February 21 1937, King Harald was the third child and only son of King Olav V of Norway and Princess Märtha of Sweden. After spending much of his childhood in Sweden and the United States due to the German occupation of Norway in World War II, Harald returned to Norway in 1945 where he studied at the University of Oslo, and the Norwegian Military Academy, as well as a stint at Balliol College, Oxford. Before ascending the throne in 1991, Harald was a keen sportsman and represented Norway in sailing at the 1964, 1968, and 1972 Olympic Games. Following the death of his father, Harald became the first Norwegian-born monarch to sit on the throne since 1380. Harald married Queen Sonja in 1968 after being together for nine years, but their marriage was deemed controversial at the time due to Sonja’s status as a commoner. The couple have two children: Crown Prince Haakon, and Princess Märtha Louise, who does not hold a royal role or title. The King led Norway through a series of crises, including the New Years Day storm of 1992, a landslide in 2020 that claimed the lives of ten people, and the devastating terror attacks of July 22 2011 in which 77 people died. King Harald was also second cousin to the late Queen Elizabeth, as they shared the same great-grandparents, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra of the UK, with the Queen’s grandfather, King George V, and Harald’s grandmother, Queen Maud, being siblings. The late Queen’s first foreign trip abroad was to see King Harald in 1955, as she visited the country twice more during her reign, in 1981 and 2002. King Harald and his wife attended the late Queen’s funeral in 2022, and were seen singing ‘God Save The King’ as it rang out around Westminster Abbey for Charles. While the King and Queen of Norway did not attend Charles’ Coronation in 2023, Crown Prince Haakon and his wife Crown Princess Mette-Marit were in attendance, just months after they were hosted in Windsor Castle by the Prince and Princess of Wales. Prince William and Princess Kate also travelled to Norway in 2018, when Kate was pregnant with Prince Louis, where they were hosted by King Harald and treated to a state dinner at the Royal Palace in Oslo.