The "grandfather" of all Norway - a unifying king in war and crisis
King Harald photographed in Oslo in early February 2026. Photo: Thomas Fure/NTB/TT
With the motto "Everything for Norway", Harald V led the country since 1991 - and goes down in history as the first Norwegian-born prince in 567 years.
The last time on the throne was turbulent, marked by a long series of scandals that damaged the Norwegians' confidence in the royal house.
King Harald V was born in 1937, the son of Crown Prince Olav and Swedish Princess Märtha. With Harald, Norway got its first Norwegian-born prince since the 14th century, when father Olav was a Danish prince from the beginning.
Harald spent his early years on the Skaugum farm in Asker. At just three years old, his life took a dramatic turn when Nazi Germany unexpectedly invaded Norway in April 1940.
The royal family, the government and large parts of the Storting quickly fled Oslo by train. That same night, Swedish-born Märtha crossed the border into Sweden with the children and then on to the United States. Harald's father and grandfather – Olav and King Haakon VII – were not allowed to escape through Sweden, as the pro-German Swedish King Gustav V said no.
When Germany capitulated in May 1945, the royal family was able to return to Norway. Upon their return to Oslo, eight-year-old Harald and his family were met by a sea of people who welcomed them home in triumph.
Twelve years later, Harald, then 20, became Crown Prince when King Haakon VII died.
In addition to his royal duties, he was a talented sailor. He competed for Norway in the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics, and as recently as 2005 the King and crew won the European Sailing Championships.
In August 1968, the wedding took place in Oslo Cathedral with Sonja Haraldsen – later Queen Sonja – however, after some resistance from father Olav, who is said to have hesitated about his son's marriage to a non-royal. The couple had two children: Princess Märtha Louise in 1971 and Crown Prince Haakon Magnus in 1973.
When King Olav V fell ill in the spring of 1990, Harald took over the function as head of state. Olav died the following year, in January 1991, and Harald became king.
The last years on the throne were turbulent. In early 2024, the King fell ill during a holiday in Malaysia and had a pacemaker implanted.
In the same year, daughter Märtha Louise married the scandal-ridden, self-proclaimed “shaman” Durek Verrett – and the bonus grandson Marius Borg Høiby, son of Crown Prince Haakon’s wife Mette-Marit, was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a girlfriend.
– Sometimes life is simply very difficult, said King Harald in October 2024.
In 2025, the criminal investigation against Marius Borg Høiby swelled and at the beginning of 2026, another scandal erupted, when documents from the investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein revealed that Crown Princess Mette-Marit had had significantly more intensive contact with Epstein than had previously been known. She was forced to publicly apologize to the Norwegian people.
The scandals have caused Norwegians’ trust in the royal family to plummet. But support for King Harald remained intact until the very end.
Facts
King Harald
The then Prince Harald was born on the Skaugum farm in Asker on 21 February 1937, as the son of Crown Prince Olav and Swedish-born Crown Princess Märtha, who never became queen before she died in 1954.
Harald's father, Crown Prince Olav, who later became King Olav V, was born in Denmark and came to Norway after the dissolution of the union with Sweden in 1905, when Olav's father became King Haakon VII of Norway.
When Harald was born, Olav and Märtha already had two daughters, Princesses Astrid and Ragnhild, but until 1991 the Norwegian constitution stipulated that only men could inherit the throne.
After graduating from high school in Oslo, Harald trained in the military, but also spent a few years at Oxford, where he studied political science, history and economics from 1960 to 1962.
In 1968, he married the future Queen Sonja and had children Märtha Louise and Haakon.
In 1991, Harald became King of Norway after the death of his father.
He had five grandchildren: Maud Angelica Behn, Leah Isadora Behn, Emma Tallulah Behn, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus, as well as the bonus grandson Marius Borg Høiby.
Sources: Norwegian Royal Family, NE
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