Norway's King Harald V, who lived in exile in the United States as a child during the Nazi occupation of his country and rejected a series of European noblewomen to marry his school sweetheart, has died at the age of 89. An announcement from the royal palace confirmed that he died at Oslo's National Hospital on Friday at 6.35am. Harald was the oldest monarch in Europe.
While the popular king modernised the royal household, he chose not to imitate other elderly sovereigns who have abdicated in recent times. His son now automatically ascends to the throne as King Haakon VIII. In line with other European royal families, Norway's monarchs fulfil a predominantly symbolic role, retaining widespread celebrity while actual governing authority in the nation of 5.5 million rests with an elected parliament.
Harald was crowned king following the death of his British-born father, King Olav V, in January 1991, ruling over a period of economic growth propelled by oil and gas. Born in 1937 in Asker, near Oslo, Harald became the first Norwegian prince born on domestic soil since King Olav IV in 1370. Across the subsequent centuries, Norway lacked a monarch of its own until Harald’s grandfather, Haakon VII, was elected king when the union between Sweden and Norway dissolved in 1905.
Harald was just three years old when Nazi forces occupied Norway at the outbreak of World War II. Escaping capture, his mother fled with him and his sisters, Ragnhild and Astrid, travelling first to Sweden and then by sea to the US, while his father and grandfather established a government-in-exile in Britain. Haakon’s insistence on defying German demands earned lasting respect across the nation.
Throughout their stay in the US, members of the Norwegian royal family were frequent guests at the White House. Harald was six when he completed his initial official duty, christening new aircraft at a Norwegian air base in Canada. The family came back together in Norway in June 1945, shortly after hostilities ended.
Harald received his education at state schools, the Norwegian military college and Oxford University. Harald was deeply devoted to the sea and sailing, like his father, who won gold as an Olympic sailor in 1928. He competed for Norway in several Olympic Games, and skippered his yacht to a World Championship gold in 1987.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
