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Norway’s Queen Mette-Marit joins procession to bring late King Harald V’s coffin to royal chapel
The coffin of the late King Harald V of Norway has traveled through the royal palace to its chapel. Queen Mette-Marit joined the procession on Monday in her first official appearance since assuming the title.
The Norwegian royal family attended a memorial service at Asker Church, southwest of Oslo as Norwegians gathered at churches across the country Sunday to mourn the death of King Harald V, who died Friday at age 89. Tens of thousands have left flowers, cards and candles outside the royal palace in Oslo, where the king’s coffin arrived Friday from the hospital.
King Harald’s coffin arrived at the Royal Palace from the National Hospital, where he died on Friday morning. Harald, who went into exile in the United States as a child during the Nazi occupation of Norway and refused a string of potential brides from European nobility so he could marry his longtime sweetheart, died Friday at the National Hospital in Oslo, the palace said. He died at 6:35 a.m local time.
King Harald V of Norway, who went into exile in the United States as a child during the Nazi occupation of his homeland and refused a string of European noblewomen to marry his school sweetheart, died Friday. He was 89. (Produced by Elaine Carroll)
King Harald V of Norway and his wife Sonja leave the Notre Dame cathedral after attending at the funeral of the Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, in Luxembourg, on May 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)
Norway’s King Harald arrives at a central London hotel for a pre-royal wedding dinner hosted by Lady Elizabeth Anson and attended by members of the British royal family and foreign royal families, in London, on April, 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
The Norwegian royal family attended a memorial service at Asker Church, southwest of Oslo as Norwegians gathered at churches across the country Sunday to mourn the death of King Harald V, who died Friday at age 89. Tens of thousands have left flowers, cards and candles outside the royal palace in Oslo, where the king’s coffin arrived Friday from the hospital.
King Harald’s coffin arrived at the Royal Palace from the National Hospital, where he died on Friday morning. Harald, who went into exile in the United States as a child during the Nazi occupation of Norway and refused a string of potential brides from European nobility so he could marry his longtime sweetheart, died Friday at the National Hospital in Oslo, the palace said. He died at 6:35 a.m local time.
King Harald V of Norway, who went into exile in the United States as a child during the Nazi occupation of his homeland and refused a string of European noblewomen to marry his school sweetheart, died Friday. He was 89. (Produced by Elaine Carroll)
King Harald V of Norway and his wife Sonja leave the Notre Dame cathedral after attending at the funeral of the Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, in Luxembourg, on May 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)
King Harald V of Norway and his wife Sonja leave the Notre Dame cathedral after attending at the funeral of the Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, in Luxembourg, on May 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)
Norway’s King Harald arrives at a central London hotel for a pre-royal wedding dinner hosted by Lady Elizabeth Anson and attended by members of the British royal family and foreign royal families, in London, on April, 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
Norway’s King Harald arrives at a central London hotel for a pre-royal wedding dinner hosted by Lady Elizabeth Anson and attended by members of the British royal family and foreign royal families, in London, on April, 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
OSLO, Norway (AP) — The coffin of late King Harald V of Norway traveled through the royal palace to its chapel on Monday, with Queen Mette-Marit joining the procession in her first official appearance since assuming the title.
Harald passed away Friday at age 89, and his son, the crown prince, immediately became King Haakon VIII. His wife became Queen Mette-Marit, while his oldest child, Ingrid Alexandra, became crown princess and heir to the throne.
Haakon, 53, will take the oath to Norway’s constitution on Tuesday. His tasks in the near future will include shoring up support for the monarchy following controversies over his wife’s past contacts with deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his stepson’s rape conviction.
Mette-Marit has been largely absent from the public eye in the wake of her lung transplant in June. She was diagnosed in 2018 with pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive disease that damages and scars lung tissue. It can cause serious breathing problems, and there is no known cure.
Since Harald’s death, the royal family and the country have been in an official state of mourning. Norwegians and visitors expressed their grief over the weekend by laying flowers, writing cards and lighting candles in front of the royal palace in Oslo, where the coffin arrived late Friday from the hospital.
The coffin stayed in the palace’s Red Salon over the weekend before traveling to the royal chapel on Monday, where it will remain until the funeral. The public can go to the chapel to pay their respects to the late king beginning Tuesday, Norwegian broadcaster NRK reported.