Norway has bade a final farewell to King Harald V with a funeral attended by royalty and leaders from across Europe and beyond.
Among the guests was the Prince of Wales who is representing his father, Charles. The British monarch is second cousin once removed to Harald.
Harald, who died on August 28 aged 89, was Europe’s oldest monarch and had modernised the royal house, but refused to follow in the footsteps of other aging monarchs who have abdicated in recent times.
His son immediately became King Haakon VIII and last week pledged an oath of allegiance to Norway’s constitution in parliament.
The coffin was taken on Wednesday from the royal palace to Oslo Cathedral in a procession, followed by Haakon, other senior Norwegian royals, foreign guests and representatives of Norway’s parliament and others.
Ahead of the funeral, Norwegians have waited patiently to file past Harald’s coffin as it lay in state in the chapel of the royal palace in Oslo. The queue was seven hours long at one point over the weekend.
More than 46,000 people visited the chapel during the week.
There were large crowds in the capital for the funeral. The city centre area was closed to vehicles and electric scooters, and police were instructing people not to bring bicycles, umbrellas or sharp objects.
The US was represented by under secretary of state for political affairs Allison Hooker.
Large screens have been set up for people to watch the ceremony.
Among the guests who paid tribute to the monarch, who reigned for 35 years, are heir-to-the-UK-throne William, and Crown Prince Akishino of Japan, as well as the monarchs of Sweden, Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Jordan. Presidents from a range of European countries were joining them.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was also among those attending the funeral.
He met Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store in Oslo on Tuesday to discuss the war in Ukraine.
A minute’s silence was held across Norway at the start of the funeral ceremony.
Eulogies would be delivered by Norway’s parliament speaker and prime minister, and there will be a candle-lighting ceremony with representatives of different faiths.
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.
After a private ceremony for the Norwegian royals, who will be joined by some of the foreign guests and senior Norwegian officials, it will be lowered into the crypt.
Norway’s monarchy traces its origins to King Harald Fairhair in the ninth century. When Norway regained its independence from Sweden in 1905, three-quarters of voters in a national ballot approved restoring the monarchy.
Today, the throne’s role is largely symbolic and power lies with the elected government and parliament, but the Norwegian royal family retains a role in promoting the wealthy Scandinavian nation around the world.
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