Harald then ascended to the throne when Olav died on 17 January 1991. The new king came into his own around 2000, according to historian Trond Norén Isaksen, growing from a reserved, serious and shy man into someone who became much more open and empathetic.

In July 2011 Harald faced his greatest challenge yet as king, when neo-Nazi Anders Breivik murdered eight people with a car bomb in Oslo before moving on to a youth camp on the island of Utøya, where he shot dead 69 others, most of them teenagers. He gave a televised address the next day, and weeks later he delivered a speech, empathising with the victims and their families as a father, grandfather, husb and, and king.

On the verge of tears, his voice quivered and broke." I can only imagine the depth of your pain.

As King of this nation, I feel for each and every one of you," he said. Looking back, historian Ole-Jørgen Schulsrud-Hansen said: " I think that moment has been burned into our minds of what a monarchy should be."

In 2016, the king made headlines again by giving an impassioned speech , externalsupporting diversity of religion, ethnicity and sexual orientation. The king was also a keen athlete and environmentalist - one of the initators of the Norwegian branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), who served as president of the Norwegian chapter for 20 years.

He was such an accomplished sailor, he represented Norway three times at the Olympics, and declared his competitive sailing days over in 2022. More recently he was treated with cortisone for a rare blood condition, haemolytic anaemia, which causes the number of red blood cells in the body to be reduced.

He entered hospital on 17 August and his son became regent, taking over his activities. This year alone the Norwegian royal family has faced compounded personal health challenges and scandals that have left them under almost constant public scrutiny.

The rape trial of Marius Borg Høiby, convicted of a litany of offences by judges in Oslo in June, hung over the royal family for many months. He has now appealed against a four-year jail term and appeared at Harald's bedside shortly before he died.

Days before the trial began, documents were released revealing his mother Mette-Marit's frequent contact with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. She later apologised to King Harald and Queen Sonja for her three-year friendship with Epstein and admitted to "poor judgement", adding in a national TV interview that she wished she had never met him.

Two days after her son's trial came to an end, Mette-Marit received a lung transplant. She had been diagnosed with a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis eight years earlier.

Her doctors will not declare her stable until a year after the transplant, and the new king will face a difficult period of succession as he continues to support her. The crises surrounding the monarchy have had an effect on its popularity.

One poll for Aftenposten newspaper found that support had dropped from 72% in 2024 to 54%. Other polls suggested almost half of Norwegians believed Mette-Marit could no longer become queen, although Haakon is now highly likely to say she will become queen.

Despite that negative sentiment towards the monarchy, Vagle said criticism was rarely directed at the late king personally, leaving her with the impression that "everyone has loved King Harald"." When things go wrong in the royal family, people tend to blame anyone but the king," historian Trond Norén Isaksen remarked.

Haakon has faced questions about how the turbulence surrounding his own household will "follow him into his position as a king", according to Tove Taalesen, however she believes he has shown leadership and dealt with recent events well. The royal family's main strategy has been to separate itself from Marius Borg Høiby's trial, and Ole-Jørgen Schulsrud-Hansen believes that has largely succeeded.

Although there may be further scrutiny over the Epstein files, the focus for Norwegians now will be on remembering a "greatly beloved king" and supporting his son.

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