Haral 5 years old

The current king of Norway .

Harald V was born at the Akershus Skaugum estate on February 21, 1937, during the reign of his grandfather, King Haakon VII . On March 31 of the same year, he was baptized at the royal chapel in the Royal Palace in Oslo by Bishop Johan Lunde. At the time, his baptism godparents were his paternal grandparents, King Haakon VII and Queen Maud, his maternal grandparents, Prince Karl of Suande and Princess Ingeborg, as well as his maternal uncles, King Leopold III of Belgium, Queen Mary and King George VI of England , and Crown Princess Ingrid of Denmark, all from Europe. A large number of royal family members attended. Harald was a precious son to the crown prince and his wife, who already had two daughters, Princess Langnil and Princess Astrid, and as soon as he was born, he became second in line to the Norwegian throne, following his father, Crown Prince Olaf .

When World War II broke out and Nazi Germany invaded Norway in 1940, the entire royal family had to flee Oslo . At the time, it was judged that it would be better for the royal family to disperse for personal safety, so King Haakon VII and Crown Prince Olaf remained in Norway, and Crown Princess Marta took her three children to her home, Sweden.

The Crown Princess and her party arrived at the Swedish border on the night of April 10th, but Sweden, which was watching Germany, was not very pleased.[5] At the time, King Gustav V of Sweden welcomed the Crown Princess and her party warmly, but made any conversation about the war taboo. Moreover, after sending the crown princess's party back to Norway, a plot was hatched by the German military to elect Harald as the new king. King Haakon VII, who judged that Sweden was unsafe, sent the crown princess's party to the United States .[6]

While the war continued, Harald, his mother, and sisters lived in Washington, D.C., while his father, Crown Prince Olaf, and grandfather, King Haakon VII, led the Norwegian government in exile in London , England.[7] Harald V cited standing right behind President Franklin D. Roosevelt during his fourth inauguration ceremony at the White House in 1945 as the most impressive thing he had done in the United States at the time . During his stay in the United States, Prince Harald comforted Norwegian soldiers in the United States or crossed the border into Canada. We also visited the Norwegian military training base ‘Little Norway’ in Ontario . When the war ended in 1945, he was finally able to return to his home country, Norway.

He graduated from the high school affiliated with the University of Oslo in 1955 and entered the University of Oslo in the fall of that year to begin his studies. Afterwards, he went to the Armored Officer Candidate School in Trandum and entered the Norwegian Military Academy, graduating in 1959. On September 21, 1957, while he was studying at the Military Academy, his grandfather passed away, and he was crowned crown prince at the age of 20. Six days later, he attended a cabinet meeting for the first time, and on February 21, 1958, at the age of 21, he took an oath to uphold the Norwegian Constitution. In the same year, he served as regent for the first time, carrying out the king's duties.

In 1960, he went to England to study history, economics, and politics at Balliol College, Oxford University . He loved the water and was an avid rower during his time at Oxford.[8] Showing extraordinary talent and passion for sailing, he participated as a member of the Norwegian sailing national team at the 1964 Tokyo , 1968 Mexico City , and 1972 Munich Summer Olympics. In particular, he served as the flag bearer for the Norwegian team at the opening ceremony of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics , and he still serves as honorary president of the International Solling Sailing Association.

He fell in love with Sonya Haralsen, a commoner, and dated her for a whopping 9 years. Her father, King Olaf V, was strongly against his son marrying a commoner, so he was able to get permission only after making a strong statement, "If I cannot marry Sonya, I will remain single for the rest of my life." At the time, Harald was the only heir to the throne, and his declaration of celibacy meant the end of the Norwegian monarchy, so his father had no choice but to raise his hand in the end. Harald married Sonya Haraldsen at Oslo Cathedral on August 29, 1968.[9]

When his father, King Olaf V , passed away on January 17, 1991 , he ascended the throne under the name of Harald V. It was a historic event in which a monarch born in his native Norway ascended to the throne 604 years after the death of King Olaf IV in 1387 , and he was a king named Harald who was born 855 years after Harald IV in 1136 .[10]

Immediately after his accession to the throne, Harald V decided to keep the royal motto "Alt for Norge" used by his grandfather and father. In addition, he continued the royal blessing ceremony tradition that started with his father and held a grand blessing ceremony with Queen Sonya at the Nidaros Cathedral on June 23, 1991.

The reign of Harald V can be said to be a period of modernization and reform of the Norwegian royal family . Together with Queen Sonya and the Crown Prince, she took the lead in making the royal family more transparent to the public and media. In particular, it is significant that it promoted the modernization of the royal family in line with the changes of the times by boldly accepting commoners like Crown Princess Mette-Marie and her son-in-law Ari Ben as members of the royal family. In addition, under the leadership of King Harald V and Queen Sonya, a large-scale remodeling project was carried out on the Vigdö royal residence, the Royal Palace of Oslo , the royal stables, and Oslo Palace. Among these, the palace, stables, and Oslo Palace were fully opened to the general public and tourists, and steady efforts have been made for decades to build a royal palace museum in downtown Oslo.

There are many evaluations that he demonstrated leadership and did his best to resolve each national crisis. From the massive storm that struck on New Year's Day in 1992, to the serial terrorist disasters in July 2011, to the Jjördrum landslide in 2020, and to the COVID-19 pandemic that lasted from January 2020 to March 2022, he has played an excellent role as a spiritual supporter of the Norwegian people whenever a crisis has occurred. He often delivers messages of social inclusion and integration, and in a speech commemorating the 25th anniversary of his accession to the throne in 2016, he argued that we should embrace not only immigrants from Afghanistan and Pakistan , but also sexual minorities , saying, "Norwegian citizens are women who love women , men who love men , and men and women who love each other."

In the 21st century, health has deteriorated and cases of illness have become more frequent. From December 2003 to mid-April 2004, he was away for bladder cancer treatment, from April to early June 2005, he was away for aortic valve stenosis surgery, and in 2020, he underwent heart valve replacement surgery. During this period, Crown Prince Haakon acted as regent for the King, and the Crown Prince also read the King's speech at the 2020 Parliament opening ceremony. In August and December 2022, and just before Constitution Day in May 2023, he was hospitalized one after another due to infectious diseases and high fever, and he was diagnosed with COVID-19 in March 2022 and again in October 2023, which frequently raised red flags for his health.[11]

When Queen Elizabeth II of England passed away in 2022, she became the oldest hereditary monarch in Europe . In particular, as of September 9, 2024, he has surpassed his father, King Olaf V, who passed away at the age of 87 years and 199 days, and has earned the title of the oldest monarch in the history of the Norwegian monarchy over 1,150 years .

Because he was so old, he took a short sick leave due to a respiratory infection on January 31, 2024, and was emergency hospitalized at a local hospital on February 27 due to low heart rate while vacationing on Langkawi Island, Malaysia . The King, who underwent local temporary artificial pacemaker insertion surgery, was safely transported to Norway via a medical plane on March 3. After returning home, he successfully completed permanent artificial pacemaker insertion surgery on March 12 and returned to official duties on April 22. Recently, in February 2026, while enjoying a vacation on the Spanish island of Tenerife, he was hospitalized at a local hospital for a leg skin infection (cellulitis) and received treatment.

Despite his constant health problems and old age, he never once thought about voluntarily abdicating the throne. Even when Queen Margrethe II of neighboring Denmark announced her voluntary abdication, she flatly dismissed the possibility of abdication in an interview with the media, saying, "There is no such thing as abdication in my dictionary." He cut it off bluntly.