Norwegian royals cancel engagements as 89-year-old King Harald’s condition deteriorates
The 89-year-old monarch, Europe’s oldest head of state, is being treated for a rare blood condition as his family and the nation await news of his recovery.
King Harald V of Norway is in an “extremely serious” condition in hospital, the country’s royal household has confirmed, as members of the royal family gathered at his bedside in Oslo. The 89-year-old monarch, who has been on the throne since 1991 and is Europe’s oldest head of state, has been receiving treatment for a rare blood disorder, haemolytic anaemia, for more than a week at Oslo University Hospital.
His wife, Queen Sonja, and his son, Crown Prince Haakon, have cancelled all official engagements to be with him, joined by other family members including Crown Princess Mette-Marit and the king’s sister, Princess Astrid, according to Norwegian media reports. The crown prince, 53, who has been serving as regent during his father’s leave of absence, was seen arriving at the hospital on Thursday morning. The palace has not released further details about the king’s prognosis, but the gravity of the situation was underscored by the unprecedented cancellation of royal duties.
King Harald has been treated in recent weeks with cortisone for haemolytic anaemia, a condition that reduces the number of red blood cells in the body, leading to fatigue and shortness of breath. The illness is the latest in a series of health setbacks that have forced the monarch to scale back his royal duties in recent years. In 2024, he was fitted with a pacemaker after falling ill while on holiday in Malaysia.
The prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, expressed the nation’s solidarity in a statement: “The whole nation is with us as we send warm thoughts to the king and the rest of the royal family.” The sentiment reflects the deep affection in which the popular monarch is held in Norway, a constitutional monarchy where the royal family remains a symbol of national unity.
The current health scare comes at the end of an already turbulent year for the Norwegian royal household. In June, Crown Princess Mette-Marit underwent a lung transplant after being diagnosed with a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis in 2018. The procedure took place just two days after her son, Marius Borg Høiby, was sentenced to four years in prison for two counts of rape. Høiby, 29, who was four years old when his mother married Crown Prince Haakon and is not himself a royal figure, has denied the most serious charges and is to appeal the sentence.
Earlier this year, the family faced further controversy when documents revealed that Mette-Marit had been in frequent contact with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. She subsequently apologised to the king and queen for what she described as a three-year friendship with Epstein, admitting to “poor judgement” in a national television interview and expressing regret that she had ever met him. Against this backdrop of personal and public challenges, the king’s deteriorating health has united the nation in a moment of anxious waiting, as Norway confronts the prospect of losing its longest-serving monarch of the modern era.