Norway bids final farewell to popular King Harald V as crowds and royals converge for his funeral

Stian Lysberg Solum/AFP/Getty Images

Norway bade its final farewell to Harald V on Wednesday as crowds lined the streets and foreign royals and leaders converged on Oslo for the funeral of the long-serving king, who was remembered as a popular monarch with a down-to-earth touch.

A 21-gun salute rang out over the Norwegian capital at the start of a funeral procession from the royal palace to Oslo Cathedral. Harald’s son, new King Haakon VIII, and other senior royals walked behind the coffin, draped with the red Norwegian royal standard. Harald’s widow, Queen Sonja, and Haakon’s wife, Queen Mette-Marit, followed in a car.

Norwegian officials and foreign dignitaries joined the solemn procession. They included the monarchs of Sweden, Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Monaco and Jordan.

Also present were the heir to the British throne, Prince William, and Japan’s Crown Prince Akishino, as well as political leaders from more than 20 countries, including Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

As the funeral service began, Norway came to a halt for a minute of silence.

Harald, who died on Aug. 28 aged 89, was Europe’s oldest monarch and had reigned for 35 years. He modernized the royal house but refused to follow in the footsteps of other aging monarchs who recently abdicated. His son immediately became king and last week took an oath of allegiance to Norway’s constitution in parliament.

The speaker of Norway’s parliament, Masud Gharahkhani, said at the service that “King Harald was close to the people” and recalled that “he wasn’t afraid to meet people in his rubber boots.”

Lise Aserud/NTB/Reuters

He remembered Harald saying in his 2008 New Year’s address: “I wish we would stop using the term ‘the weakest in society.’ In reality, some of these people are among the strongest of us all.”

“He lived up to his motto: He gave his all for Norway,” Gharahkhani said.

Large crowds flocked to Oslo for the funeral, and thousands stood behind barriers on streets lined with national flags. The downtown area was closed to vehicles and electric scooters, and police had instructed people not to bring bicycles, umbrellas or sharp objects.

People tuned in from across the country. Scores of churches, libraries, cultural centers and city halls made big screens available for the public to watch the funeral, public broadcaster NRK reported.

Ahead of the funeral, Norwegians waited patiently to file past Harald’s coffin in the chapel of the royal palace. The queue was seven hours long at one point over the weekend. Over 46,000 people visited the chapel during the week it lay in state.

Claudia Greco/Reuters

The government says it was not an official holiday, but schools and workplaces could individually opt to let students and employees tune in for Wednesday’s events. The government advised that “noisy events should be suspended while the funeral is ongoing.”

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, the coffin will be lowered into the crypt.

Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix/Reuters

After King Harald V’s death, what comes next for Norway’s scandal-prone royals?

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 plebiscite approved restoring the monarchy.

The Norwegian royal house has kinfolk in other European royal families. Harald and Haakon are related to both Britain’s King Charles III and Spain’s King Felipe VI: They’re all descendants of the U.K.’s Queen Victoria, who reigned from 1837 until her death in 1901.

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.

Stian Lysberg Solum/AFP/Getty Images

周三，挪威向哈拉尔五世做最后的告别。民众挤满了街道两旁，外国王室成员和领导人也聚集在奥斯陆，参加这位长期在位国王的葬礼。人们缅怀他是一位深受爱戴、平易近人的君主。

在从王宫到奥斯陆大教堂的送葬队伍出发之际，挪威首都奥斯陆上空响起了21响礼炮。哈拉尔国王的儿子，新国王哈康八世，以及其他王室高级成员走在覆盖着挪威红色皇家旗帜的灵柩后面。哈拉尔国王的遗孀索尼娅王后和哈康八世的妻子梅特-玛丽特王后则乘车跟随。

挪威官员和外国政要参加了庄严的游行队伍。其中包括瑞典、丹麦、西班牙、荷兰、比利时、卢森堡、摩纳哥和约旦的君主。

出席者还包括英国王位继承人威廉王子、日本皇太子秋筱宫文仁亲王，以及来自 20 多个国家的政治领导人，其中包括乌克兰总统泽连斯基。

葬礼仪式开始时，挪威举国默哀一分钟。

哈拉尔国王于8月28日去世，享年89岁，是欧洲最年长的君主，在位长达35年。他推行了王室的现代化改革，但拒绝效仿其他年迈君主退位的做法。他的儿子立即继位，并于上周在议会宣誓效忠挪威宪法。

挪威议会议长马苏德·加拉赫哈尼在追悼会上说，“哈拉尔国王与人民关系密切”，并回忆说“他不怕穿着橡胶靴与人们见面”。

莉丝·阿塞鲁德/NTB/路透社

他记得哈拉尔德在 2008 年新年致辞中说过：“我希望我们不要再使用‘社会中最弱势群体’这个词了。事实上，这些人中有些是我们所有人中最坚强的人。”

“他践行了自己的座右铭：他为挪威奉献了一切，”加拉赫哈尼说道。

大批民众涌向奥斯陆参加葬礼，数千人站在街道两旁插满国旗的路障后。市中心禁止车辆和电动滑板车通行，警方也告知民众不要携带自行车、雨伞或尖锐物品。

全国各地的人们都收看了葬礼直播。据挪威公共广播公司NRK报道，数十座教堂、图书馆、文化中心和市政厅都提供了大屏幕供公众观看葬礼。

葬礼前，挪威民众耐心排队，依次瞻仰哈拉尔国王在王宫教堂内的灵柩。周末期间，排队时间一度长达七个小时。在灵柩停灵的一周里，共有超过4.6万人参观了教堂。

克劳迪娅·格雷科/路透社

政府表示，这并非法定假日，但学校和工作场所可以自行决定是否允许学生和员工收看周三的纪念活动。政府建议“葬礼进行期间，应暂停一切喧闹活动”。

葬礼结束后，哈拉尔国王的灵柩将被送往阿克斯胡斯城堡的宫廷教堂，那里安葬着这位已故国王的先祖。在挪威王室成员（部分外国宾客和挪威高级官员也将出席）参加的私人仪式之后，灵柩将被缓缓放入墓穴。

Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix/路透社

哈拉尔五世国王去世后，丑闻缠身的挪威王室接下来会如何发展？

挪威君主制起源于九世纪的哈拉尔·哈尔德国王。1905年挪威从瑞典重新获得独立后，在全民公投中，四分之三的选民赞成恢复君主制。

挪威王室与其他欧洲王室家族都有亲缘关系。哈拉尔和哈康与英国国王查理三世和西班牙国王费利佩六世都有血缘关系：他们都是英国维多利亚女王的后裔，维多利亚女王于1837年至1901年去世前在位。

如今，王位的作用很大程度上是象征性的，权力掌握在民选政府和议会手中，但挪威王室仍然在向全世界推广这个富裕的斯堪的纳维亚国家方面发挥着作用。