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Norway bade a final farewell to Harald V on Wednesday, as crowds filled the streets and royals and foreign dignitaries gathered in Oslo for the funeral of the long-reigning king, who was remembered as a popular monarch with a down-to-earth and approachable manner.
A 21-gun salute echoed over the Norwegian capital as the funeral procession began from the royal palace to Oslo Cathedral. Harald's son, the new King Haakon VIII, and other prominent royals walked behind the coffin, which was draped with the red Norwegian royal standard. Harald's widow, Queen Sonja, and Haakon's wife, Queen Mette-Marit, followed in a car.
Norwegian officials and foreign dignitaries joined the solemn procession. Among them were the monarchs of Sweden, Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Monaco, and Jordan.
Also present were the British heir to the throne, Prince William, and Crown Prince Akishino of Japan, as well as political leaders from more than 20 countries, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Harald V was a king who met with the general population.
As the ceremony began, Norway paused for a minute of silence.
PHOTOS OF KING HARALD V'S FUNERAL
Harald, who died on August 28 at age 89, was Europe's oldest monarch and had reigned for 35 years. He had modernized the royal house but refused to follow in the footsteps of other elderly monarchs who have abdicated in recent times. His son became king immediately and took an oath of allegiance to the Constitution of Norway in Parliament last week.
The President of the Norwegian Parliament, Masud Gharahkhani, said at the funeral that “King Harald was close to the people” and recalled that “he was not afraid to meet with people in his rubber boots.”
He recalled that Harald said in his 2008 New Year's speech that “I wish we would stop using the term ‘the weakest in society.’ In reality, some of these people are among the strongest of us all.”
“He lived up to his motto: All for Norway,” said Gharahkhani.
Large crowds flock to the streets before the funeral
Large crowds came to Oslo for the funeral, and thousands of people stood behind fences on streets adorned with national flags along the funeral procession route. The city center was closed to car and electric scooter traffic, and police told people not to bring bicycles, umbrellas, or sharp objects.
People from across the country of about 5.6 million followed the ceremony. Dozens of churches, libraries, cultural centers, and town halls made giant screens available for the public to watch the funeral, the public broadcaster NRK reported. The government stated it was not an official holiday, but schools and workplaces could individually choose to allow students and employees to follow the events.
Before the funeral, Norwegians waited patiently to pass by Harald's coffin in the royal palace chapel. The wait in line reached seven hours at one point over the weekend. More than 46,000 people visited the chapel during the week the body was lying in state.
“The love between the people and King Harald has not ended—quite the opposite,” said Bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, who led the funeral service, pointing to the tributes left outside the palace after his death. “The sea of flowers, along with the words and drawings that accompany them, speaks loud and clear of a heart so full that it overflows.”
After the funeral, Harald's coffin was taken in a smaller procession to Akershus Fortress, where his predecessors are buried in the palace chapel crypt. Haakon followed with the other two Scandinavian monarchs, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and King Frederik X of Denmark.
Among those who attended the funeral was Mette-Marit's eldest son and Haakon's stepson, Marius Borg Høiby, who has no title or royal duties. Høiby is appealing a rape conviction after a trial earlier this year that cast a shadow over the royal family.
The Norwegian monarchy traces its origins to King Harald Fairhair in the 9th century. When Norway regained its independence from Sweden in 1905, three-quarters of voters in a national plebiscite approved restoring the monarchy.
The Norwegian royal house has relatives in other European royal families. Harald and Haakon are related to both King Charles III of England and King Felipe VI of Spain: they are all descendants of Queen Victoria of England, who reigned from 1837 until her death in 1901.
Today, the role of the throne is largely symbolic and power rests with the elected government and Parliament, but the Norwegian royal family retains a role in promoting the prosperous Scandinavian nation around the world.
[Publicidad]