Harald V

Birth

Harald was born on 21 February 1937 at the Skaugum estate during the reign of his grandfather, King Haakon VII. His parents were Crown Prince Olav (later Olav V) and Princess Märtha of Sweden. Harald was baptised in the Royal Chapel of the Royal Palace in Oslo on 31 March by Bishop Johan Lunde. His godparents were his paternal grandparents, King Haakon VII and Queen Maud of Norway; his maternal grandparents Prince Carl and Princess Ingeborg of Sweden; his maternal uncle, King Leopold III of Belgium; Queen Mary and King George VI of the United Kingdom; and Crown Princess Ingrid of Denmark. His parents already had two daughters, Princess Ragnhild and Princess Astrid.

At the time of Harald's birth, he was second in the line of succession to the Norwegian throne, following his father, Crown Prince Olav.

Second World War

In 1940, the entire royal family fled Oslo because of the German invasion. It was deemed safer for the family to split up. The King and Olav remained in Norway, and Märtha made her way to Sweden with Ragnhild, Astrid and, Harald. They reached Sweden on the night of 10 April, but although Märtha was Swedish-born, they encountered problems at the border station. According to Astrid and others who were present, they were admitted only after the driver threatened to ram the border gate. Another account does not describe the escape so dramatically.^[2] When the King and Olav asked Swedish foreign minister Christian Günther whether they could sleep one night in Sweden without being interned, their request was refused.^[2]

Harald spent the following days in Sälen before moving to Prince Carl Bernadotte's home in Frötuna on 16 April. On 26 April, the group moved to Drottningholm in Stockholm. King Gustaf V is accounted to have had an amicable relationship with his Norwegian guests, but the topic of the war in Norway was not to be raised. Influential Swedish politicians, including Minister of Justice Westman, wanted Märtha and Harald to be sent back to Norway so he could be proclaimed King by the Germans.^[2][3] After the King and Olav had to leave Norway on 7 June, they felt Sweden might not be the best place for the rest of the family, and began planning for them to go to the United States. On 17 August, Märtha and her children left for the United States from Petsamo, Finland, aboard the United States Army transport ship American Legion.^[2]

Harald, his mother, and his sisters lived in Washington, D.C. during the war,^[4] while his father, Olav, and his grandfather, King Haakon, stayed in London with the Norwegian government-in-exile. One of the notable events he remembers from that time is standing behind Franklin D. Roosevelt when he was sworn in for his fourth term on the South Portico of the White House in 1945. Such childhood experiences are reflected in a trace of an American accent when he speaks English.^[5] The Doris Kearns Goodwin book No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the Home Front in World War II contains a picture of Harald playing with FDR's dog, Fala, on the North Lawn of the White House in 1944.

Harald visited Norwegian servicemen training in the United States. He also made visits outside America, travelling north to visit Norwegian personnel at the training base Little Norway in Ontario, Canada. He attended The White Hall Country School from 1943. Harald returned to Norway with his family at the war's end in 1945.

Return

In the autumn of 1945, Harald was enrolled in third grade at Smestad skole as the first member of the royal family to attend a public (state) school.

His Confirmation took place on 10 May 1953 at the Chapel of Akershus Castle.

When he was only 17 years old, in 1954, his mother died of cancer. Märtha's death was a tremendous loss for him and his family as well as for Norway,^[6] and he named his daughter Märtha to honour her memory. Four years later, in 1958, he lost his maternal grandmother, Princess Ingeborg of Denmark.

Marriage

Harald married Sonja Haraldsen at Oslo Domkirke in Oslo on 29 August 1968. The pair had dated for nine years, but Olav was reluctant to allow his son to marry a commoner. He relented only when Harald told his father that if he was not allowed to marry Sonja he would not marry at all. This would have ended the reign of his family and the Norwegian monarchy, as Harald was the sole heir to the throne. The couple have two children, Princess Märtha Louise and Crown Prince Haakon, heir apparent to the Norwegian throne.

Constitutional role

While the Constitution vests the King with executive power, he is not politically responsible for exercising it. This accords with provisions of the Constitution and with conventions established since the definitive introduction of parliamentary rule in 1884. His acts are not valid without the countersignature of a member of the Council of State, usually the Prime Minister, and proceedings of the Council of State are signed by all of its members. Although he nominally has the power of veto, no Norwegian king has exercised it since the dissolution of the union with Sweden in 1905. Even then, the King's veto power is suspensive, not absolute as is the case with British monarchs. A royal veto can be overridden if the Storting passes the same bill following a general election.

While the Constitution nominally vests the King with the power to appoint the government, in practice it is impossible for a King to keep a government in office against the will of Parliament. By convention, the King appoints the leader of the parliamentary bloc with the majority as prime minister. When the parliamentary situation is unclear, he relies on the advice of the President of Parliament and the sitting prime minister. Unlike most constitutional monarchs, Harald does not have the power to dissolve Parliament; the Constitution does not allow snap elections.

The King meets the Council of State at the Royal Palace every Friday. He also has weekly meetings with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He receives foreign envoys and formally opens parliament every October, delivering a speech from the throne during each opening. Harald travels extensively throughout Norway and makes official state visits to other countries, as well as receiving and hosting guests.

Until 2012, the King of Norway was, according to the constitution, the formal head of the Church of Norway. The constitutional amendment of 21 May 2012 removed this role, but he is still required to be of the Evangelical Lutheran religion.

On 8 May 2018, the King's constitutional status as holy was dissolved, while leaving his sovereign immunity intact.^[15]

Sporting role

In 1994, both the King and Haakon played roles during the opening ceremony of the Lillehammer Olympics. Harald opened the games, while Haakon lit the cauldron, paying tribute to both his father and his grandfather as Olympians. The King has also represented Norway at opening ceremonies of Olympic Games, among them Torino and Beijing. He was not present in Vancouver; Haakon attended instead, with the King and Queen attending later in the games.

With his sailing crew he won World Championship bronze, silver and gold medals, in 1988, 1982 and 1987, respectively. In July 2005, Harald and his crew aboard the royal sailboat Fram XV won the gold medal at the European Championships in Sweden. In the 2007 World Championship, the King came in sixth place.^[16]

Recent years

Harald's leadership during Norwegian national crises, such as the New Year's Day Storm (1992), the July 2011 massacre, the 2020 Gjerdrum landslide, and particularly the COVID-19 pandemic (January 2020 to March 2022), have been met with both national and international acclaim.^{[17][18][19][20]}

In 2015, he became the world's first reigning monarch to visit Antarctica, specifically the Norwegian dependency Queen Maud Land.^[21] In 2016, Harald competed with a team at the sailing World Championships on Lake Ontario, Toronto, finishing second in the classic fleet category.^[22] He was dubbed "Sailor-King" by Canada's National Post as he slept on board his yacht Sira.^[23]

In 2016, in a speech marking 25 years on the throne, Harald sought to unify Norwegians coming from Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as "girls who love girls, boys who love boys and girls and boys who love each other."^[24]

When the King and Queen turned 80 years old in 2017, Harald decided to open the former royal stables to the public as a gift to his wife. The new venue was named The Queen Sonja Art Stable and is the first institution owned by the royal family which is permanently open to the public.^[25] Harald was named Name of the Year by the newspaper VG in 2017.^[26]

On 17 January 2021, Harald celebrated 30 years on the Norwegian throne.^[27] On 11 September 2022, he visited Denmark to celebrate Margrethe II's Golden Jubilee.^[28] On 15 September 2023, he attended the celebrations of Carl XVI Gustaf's Golden Jubilee in Stockholm, Sweden. Since the death of Elizabeth II in 2022, Harald has been Europe's oldest hereditary reigning monarch, at the age of 89.^[29] Since 9 September 2024, he has been the oldest monarch in more than 1,150 years of Norwegian monarchy, living longer than his father Olav V, who died at 87 years and 199 days.

During periods when Harald has been unable to perform his duties as sovereign, Haakon has served as regent.^[30] Despite his health issues, Harald has never considered abdicating. Following the announcement of the impending abdication of his Danish counterpart Margrethe II, he told the press, "No, I don't really have it. I stand by what I have said all along. I have taken an oath to the Storting, and it lasts for life."^[31]

National honours and medals

The King is Grand Master of the Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav and the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit.

• Grand Master of the Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav – Grand Cross with Collar °
• Grand Master of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit – Grand Cross °
• St Olav's medal °
• Defence Service Medal with Laurel Branch °
• Royal House Centennial Medal °
• King Haakon VII Commemorative Medal 1. October 1957 °
• King Haakon VII 1905–1955 Jubilee Medal °
• King Haakon VII Centenary Medal °
• King Olav V Commemorative Medal of 30. January 1991 °
• King Olav V Jubilee Medal °
• King Olav V Centenary Medal °
• Defence Service Medal with three stars °
• Army National Service Medal with three stars °
• Krigsdeltakerforbundet Badge of Honour °
• Norwegian Red Cross Badge of Honour °
• Norwegian Reserve Officers Federal Badge of Honour °
• Naval Society Medal of Merit in gold °
• Norwegian Shooting Society Badge of Honour °
• The Norwegian Confederation of Sports Centenary Medal °
• Norwegian Shooting Society Commemorative Medal in gold °
• Oslo Military Society Badge of Honour in Gold °

The mark ° indicates honours mentioned on his official website page about decorations (see also in English).

Foreign honours

In the British Army, Harald V was appointed an honorary general in 1994,^[61] and he was the final Colonel-in-Chief of the Green Howards.^[62] He is also an honorary Colonel in the British Royal Marines.^[63] He is patron of the Anglo-Norse Society in London, formerly together with Queen Elizabeth II, his second cousin. Harald is in the line of succession to the British throne, because of his descent from King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. He is a Stranger Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter, an Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, and a Recipient of the Royal Victorian Chain, as well as numerous other orders of chivalry.

Miscellaneous honours

Still a prince at the time, Harald visited Mococa in the 1960s, receiving the title "Cidadão Mocoquense" on 28 February 1964.

Harald V received an honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law from Oxford University in 2006 (as did his father, King Olav, in 1937, and his grandfather, King Haakon, in 1943).^[75] The King also received honorary doctorates from Heriot-Watt University in Scotland in 1994,^[76] the University of Strathclyde in Scotland in 1985, Waseda University in Japan in 2001, and Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, in 2015.^[77] He is also an honorary fellow at Balliol College, Oxford.

• Ireland – Freedom of the City of Cork
• Spirit of Luther Award, awarded by Luther College of Decorah, IA
• A 230,000 km² area in Antarctica is named Prince Harald Coast in his honour.
• In 2007 King Harald was awarded the Holmenkollen medal with Simon Ammann, Frode Estil, Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, and his wife Queen Sonja.
• Portugal – Key of Honor to the City of Lisbon, on 28 May 2008^[78]
• In 2013, a 6,500 km² area in Svalbard was named Harald V Land.^[79]