Norway held on Sunday, August 30, its first funeral services to bid farewell to King Harald V. The monarch died on August 27 at the age of 89, after spending several days in hospital due to hemolytic anemia. The Norwegian royal family, with Hakoon serving as king since the death of his father, attended the church of Asker, where the Royal Family usually holds religious services, in an emotional ceremony that began at 11 in the morning and was replicated simultaneously in churches and cathedrals across the country.
Since news of the monarch’s death broke, the Norwegians have poured out to bid him farewell, filling the streets with floral tributes and candles as a sign of homage and gratitude. Although citizens have been able to keep vigil for the king in the palace chapel, where he has rested since the afternoon of Friday 28, they did not want to miss the opportunity to surround the family, either symbolically by attending some of the religious acts celebrated across the country, or by joining the Asker ceremony alongside them.
It should be noted that the ceremony held today is not the official funeral. It will take place at Oslo Cathedral on a date yet to be determined. Thereafter, Harald V’s remains will be moved to the Royal Mausoleum at Akershus Fortress, where he will be buried beside his ancestors in a double tomb designed so that, when the day comes, Queen Sonja can rest with him. This state funeral will, presumably, be less intimate than today’s ceremony, and international presence from other royal houses is expected.
Queen Sonja of Norway at the memorial mass for Harald V
Representation and Absences at the Memorial Mass for Harald V
The royal family was represented by the King Hakoon, who arrived at the church with his children, the heir apparent Princess Ingrid Alexandra and the prince Sverre Magnus, and his mother, Queen Sonja, who appeared visibly moved upon arriving in Asker. The queen consort Mette-Marit was not with them, as she continues to recover from the lung transplant she underwent in June. As announced in a statement issued on August 29, due to her health, the queen consort will limit her official agenda, although she will attend other farewell events, as she did at the hospital and the subsequent funeral procession.
The most surprising detail of this gathering was, precisely, another absence. Princess Märtha Louise of Norway, Harald and Sonja’s daughter, was not present at this gathering, as she did accompany her mother on the cortege from the National Hospital to the Oslo Palace. Her daughters Maud Angelica, Leah Isadora and Emma Tallulah have not joined the rest of the royal family in bidding farewell to their grandfather.
For his part, Durek Verrett, Märtha Louise’s husband, is also recovering from a transplant, kidney in his case, which he underwent just a few days before his father-in-law’s death and which has also prevented him from being at the mass today. In his case, Verrett shared a farewell message via his social networks in which, incidentally, he revealed what he called him in his family circle: dad.
King Haakon of Norway at the memorial mass for Harald V
The Early Hours of Hakoon as King
Hakoon of Norway, since the death of his father, Hakoon VIII, has assumed the Crown at a moment, at the very least, emotional for his family and for the nation. If in this gathering we could see him as the head of the royal family, in the preceding days we have seen how his commitment to the throne has quickly driven him to step forward as the country’s new monarch.
One of his first public appearances as king was on August 29 with his first speech transmitted from his office at the Royal Palace in Oslo. With a photo of his father on the desk, Hakoon wanted to recall the most cherished moments spent with him, but also to thank him for his work at the helm of the country and the legacy he leaves to both his family and the Norwegians.
That same afternoon, accompanied by the heir apparent Ingrid Alexandra, King Hakoon VIII received at the Royal Palace the leading representatives of the country’s institutions in the so-called condolence audiences. There passed the Speaker of Parliament, the President of the Supreme Court, and the presiding bishop of the Church of Norway, as tradition dictates in the country’s transition of the Crown.
