Breaking: Norway's King Harald dies, aged 89

King Harald V of Norway has died, according to the European country's royal court. His son is now King Haakon VIII. "King Harald passed away peacefully at Oslo University Hospital on Friday 28 August," the royal palace said on its website.Harald, who was Europe's oldest living monarch, was taken to hospital on August 17. The palace said he was treated for a bacterial infection in his blood.In 2024, he was hospitalised for an infection while on holiday in Malaysia and received a temporary pacemaker at a hospital there.He was flown home by the Norwegian armed forces and later fitted with a permanent device.That same year, Harald, Norway's ceremonial head of state since 1991, said he would reduce his official engagements but ruled out abdication, insisting that his oath as king was for life.Turbulent times for Norway's royals Harald's death comes at a tumultuous time for the royal family.Crown Princess Mette-Marit, married to Haakon, is facing intense scrutiny for her friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a relationship for which she has apologised.Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit were photographed visiting the hospital this week. (Reuters: NTB/Ole Berg-Rusten)Her son Marius Hoiby, born from a relationship before her marriage to Haakon, was found guilty in June of ​two out of four counts of rape and one count of domestic violence and sentenced to four years in prison after a seven-week trial. Both he and the prosecution have appealed against the sentence. Two days after Marius was convicted, the palace said Mette-Marit had undergone a successful lung transplant, without specifying when the procedure took place.After several weeks of recovery, she returned home from in hospital and celebrated her silver wedding anniversary with Haakon in August.Support for the monarchy dropped to 60 per cent in February, from 70 per cent the previous month, according to a Norstat poll published by public broadcaster NRK. That number rose to 64 per cent in May.Harald had constantly remained popular with Norwegians.According to the February poll, he was the royal who best represented the Norwegian royal family, with a score of 9.2 on a scale of 1 to 10.New king expected to keep Haakon as regnal nameHarald's son Haakon, 53, will be Norway's fourth king since the country gained independence from Sweden in 1905, with Mette-Marit, also aged 53, as his queen.The new king was born Haakon Magnus on July 20, 1973, and went to a state primary school, as is expected of royals in the egalitarian Scandinavian nation — though his secondary school was private.Norway's new king, Haakon, and queen, Mette-Marit (file photo). (Reuters: Kai Pfaffenbach)He joined the navy before studying politics at the University of California, Berkeley and, later, development studies at the London School of Economics.Haakon developed an early love of music and surfing. He has said that if he were not a royal, he would have aspired to be a pro surfer on the World Tour.The new king will tell the government which name he has chosen at an extraordinary council of state in the early days of his reign.He is widely expected to keep his name — as his father did before him — and so become King Haakon VIII of Norway.Reuters/ABC