Norway Bids Farewell to King Harald V as William Joins Royals and Crowds Fill Oslo Streets
Oslo gave King Harald V a final, public salute on Wednesday. Tens of thousands lined the streets as Norway’s long-serving monarch was laid to rest
Oslo gave King Harald V a final, public salute on Wednesday. Tens of thousands lined the streets as Norway’s long-serving monarch was laid to rest after a funeral that drew royals and leaders from across Europe and beyond.
Prince William walked in the procession behind the coffin, representing King Charles III at the state funeral. Princess Anne, the king’s aunt, attended in a private capacity as godmother to Norway’s new monarch, King Haakon VIII. Among the other figures in Oslo were King Abdullah II of Jordan and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Palace balcony wave closes the day
After the public service at Oslo Cathedral, the Norwegian royal family appeared on the Royal Palace balcony and waved to the crowds gathered below. It was a brief but striking moment after a day built around ceremony, grief and national ritual.
Flags across the country had been raised from half-mast to mark the end of the private burial ceremony at Akershus Fortress, where Harald was laid to rest in the crypt of the Palace Chapel. The funeral capped 13 days of national mourning following his death in August at the age of 89.
A procession watched by a city
The funeral began with a procession from the Royal Palace to Oslo Cathedral, where the service was held. A 21-gun salute sounded over the capital as the coffin moved through the city, draped in the red Norwegian royal standard. Harald’s son, King Haakon VIII, walked directly behind it.
He was joined by other members of the royal family, including his daughter Crown Princess Ingrid Alexander. Harald’s widow, Queen Sonja, followed by car alongside Queen Mette-Marit.
The scale of the attendance reflected Harald’s standing at home and abroad. Crowds had been gathering for days, leaving flowers, candles and messages of condolence outside the Royal Palace. The scene in Oslo carried a wider resonance too: foreign royal families from the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, Greece, Belgium, Spain and Japan came to pay their respects.
A monarch remembered for ease with the public
Harald reigned for 35 years and was widely remembered for his down-to-earth manner. His death last month closed a long chapter in Norway’s modern monarchy, and the funeral brought that legacy into sharp view. For royal households across Europe, it also became a rare moment of shared presence, with one dynasty after another gathering in a single capital.
For now, the formal rites are over. The attention in Oslo shifts to the new king, and to the public who turned out in such numbers to see the old one off.
