AP —
Norway bid a final farewell to King Harald V on Wednesday, with crowds lining the streets and foreign royals and leaders gathering in Oslo for the long-serving king’s funeral. Harald V was remembered as a down-to-earth and popular monarch.
A 21-gun salute rang out over the Norwegian capital as the funeral procession led from the Royal Palace to Oslo Cathedral. Harald’s son, the new King Haakon VIII, and other senior royals walked behind the coffin, which was draped with a red Norwegian royal flag. Harald’s widow, Queen Sonia, and Haakon’s wife, Queen Mette-Marit, followed in their cars.
Norwegian government officials and foreign dignitaries took part in the solemn procession. These included the monarchs of Sweden, Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Monaco and Jordan.
In addition to Prince William, heir to the British throne, and Japan’s Crown Prince Akishino, political leaders from more than 20 countries were also in attendance, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
As the funeral began, Norway paused for a minute’s silence.
Harald, who died on August 28 at the age of 89, was Europe’s oldest monarch, having ruled for 35 years. Although he modernized the royal family, he refused to follow in the footsteps of other elderly monarchs who had recently abdicated. His son soon became king and took the oath of allegiance to Norway’s constitution in Parliament last week.
“King Harald was close to his people,” Masud Galahany, the speaker of the Norwegian parliament, said at the service, recalling that “King Harald was not afraid to meet people in rubber boots.”
He recalled that Harald said in his 2008 New Year’s address: “We should stop using the word ‘marginal.'” In fact, some of these people are some of the strongest among us. ”
“He lived up to his motto: He gave his all for Norway,” Garahani said.
A large crowd gathered in Oslo for the funeral, with thousands standing behind a street fence lined with national flags. Vehicles and electric scooters were banned from the downtown area, and police told people not to bring bicycles, umbrellas or sharp objects into the area.
People watched from all over the country. Public broadcaster NRK reported that numerous churches, libraries, cultural centers and city halls had set up large screens so the public could watch the funeral.
Ahead of the funeral, Norwegians waited patiently as a procession passed by Harald’s coffin in the Royal Palace chapel. At one point on the weekend, the line was seven hours long. More than 46,000 people visited the chapel in the week it became state-owned.
The government says the day is not an official holiday, but schools and workplaces say students and employees can individually choose to participate in Wednesday’s events. The government recommended that noisy events should be canceled while funerals are being held.
After the funeral, Harald’s coffin will be taken in a procession to the palace chapel at Akershus Castle, where the late king’s ancestors are buried. A private ceremony for the Norwegian royal family was held, attended by foreign guests and Norwegian dignitaries, and the coffin was lowered into the crypt.
The origins of the Norwegian monarchy date back to King Harald Fairhair in the 9th century. When Norway regained its independence from Sweden in 1905, three-quarters of voters approved the restoration of the monarchy in a referendum.
The Norwegian royal family has relatives with other European royal families. Harald and Haakon are relatives of King Charles III of England and King Felipe VI of Spain. They are all descendants of Britain’s Queen Victoria, who ruled from 1837 until her death in 1901.
Today, the role of the throne is largely symbolic, and power resides with the elected government and parliament, but the Norwegian royal family remains responsible for promoting the wealthy Scandinavian nation around the world.
