Norway has observed a minute’s silence as it takes leave of King Harald V in a series of ceremonies, bringing to a close 13 days of national mourning that followed the popular monarch’s death last month at the age of 89. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets of Oslo and foreign heads of state and government converged on the Norwegian capital for the funeral of the late king, a light-touch and unassuming reformer who ruled for more than three decades. With the king’s casket carried on an artillery carriage, draped in Norway’s red royal banner and topped with white flowers, the funeral cortege made its way on foot along Oslo’s main avenue from royal palace to the cathedral, as a 21-gun salute rang out from the Akershus fortress.
King Haakon VIII, who succeeded his father on Harald’s death, and other royal family members walked behind the coffin, with Harald’s widow, Queen Sonja, 89, and Haakon’s wife, Queen Mette-Marit, who is recovering from a lung transplant in June, following in a car. The procession was followed by a church ceremony attended by royals including the Britain’s Prince William and Princess Anne; Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia; Sweden’s royal family; Denmark’s King Frederik and Queen Mary; the Netherlands’ King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima; and Japan’s Crown Prince Akishino. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and political leaders and dignitaries from more than 20 countries were at the service, at which the speaker of Norway’s parliament, Masud Gharahkhani, recalled a monarch who was “not afraid to meet his people with his rubber boots on”.
The prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, said Harald “struck a balance between being stately and being down-to-earth. He spoke of a ‘we’ in Norway where everyone is there for each other.” After the service four F-35 fighter jets flew over the cathedral, one breaking away to symbolise the king’s passing. The casket was then carried to the Akershus fortress where it was due to be lowered into the royal crypt, next to Harald’s parents and grandparents, in a private ceremony.
Norwegian police said securing the funeral had been the largest planned operation in the force’s history. More than 46,000 Norwegians have filed past the king’s casket in the past week and schoolchildren were allowed to miss classes for the occasion. Harald’s death came at a time of numerous crises for the Norwegian royal family, with Mette-Marit, 53, in particular coming under heavy criticism – including from the prime minister – for her association with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The new queen’s son from a previous relationship, Marius Borg Høiby, who is under house arrest and wearing an ankle monitor pending his appeal against a conviction for rape and domestic violence, was given permission to attend the funeral and was a pall-bearer during the transfer of Harald’s coffin to the royal chapel. Despite its recent scandals, however, the monarchy remains broadly popular: 72% of Norwegians support it, while 20% favour a republic or another form of government, according to a poll for the public broadcaster NRK.
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