King Harald V of Norway
Born on 21 February 1937 in the Norwegian royal residence of Skaugum in Oslo, Harald was the heir to his father Olav and his grandfather King Haakon VII of Norway. His grandfather was Norway’s first king since becoming independent from Sweden in 1905. The German invasion of Norway in 1940 and the rise of Vidkun Quisling’s Nazi puppet state saw the Norwegian Royal Family flee Oslo and Harald spent his wartime childhood in Sweden which was neutral during the war and later the United States with his two older sisters and his mother. With his dad being an only child and Norwegian succession laws at that time favouring male heirs, Harald was one of a select few eligible for the throne in Oslo. His time in America influenced his accent when speaking English and one of his strongest memories of standing next to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he was being sworn into his 4th term (it was legally possible to have more than two terms as U.S. President back then unlike now regardless if there was war or not). Once Norway was liberated, Harald continued his schooling in Norway after starting it in America.
Harald was only 17 when his mother died in 1954 and her name was inspiration for his eldest child’s name and he was 20-years-old when his granddad died in 1957. His education post University of Oslo included the Cavalry Officers’ Candidate School and the Norwegian Military Academy as well as Oxford’s Balliol College. It was there in 1960 was where he studied economics, history and politics. Much like Anne, Princess Royal and sister of King Charles III of England, Harald represented his country in the Olympics at Tokyo in 1964, Mexico in 1968 and Munich (yes, that one with the Black September massacre) in 1972 at their yachting events. By the time the Munich Olympics happened, he was happily married to Sonja who later became his Queen Consort. It was a break from tradition as Sonja was a commoner (a non-royal) when she met him and joined the Norwegian Royal Family when her and Harald married on 29 August 1968 in Oslo Cathedral. His dad, now King Olav V wasn’t too happy about it but had to bow down to his son’s wishes when he told him that he would never marry if he wasn’t allowed to marry Sonja and of course, sexist laws meant that without any heirs from Harald, the royal lineage was doomed. The couple have 2 children, Märtha Louise and Haakon. The two children gave them 5 grandchildren (2 from Haakon and 3 from Märtha Louise.)
On 17th January 1991, Harald’s dad King Olav V of Norway died and Harald became King Harald V of Norway. He had his coronation ceremony on 23rd June 1991 at Nidaros Cathedral. His dad started a simpler benediction ceremony as the method to mark the ascension of the Norwegian monarch to the throne that is different to the full fledged coronation ceremony and Harald decided to carry that choice onwards with his coronation. He was the first Norwegian born Norwegian monarch since Olav IV who died in 1387. Throughout his reign, Harald had to deal with republicans (people who oppose an unelected king as head of state and prefer to have a president instead). Even after several scandals, the monarchy is still fairly popular in Norway. He also had to deal with the aftermath of brutal terrorist attacks that were carried out in Norway on 22nd July 2011 where 77 people were killed in a politically motivated attack that showed his usefulness as an apolitical monarch. His televised speech to the Norwegian public was testament to that since no one attempted to find an agenda hidden between the lines of his speech in comparison to one that a political party’s speaker would have. He also didn’t let his apolitical nature also didn’t stop him from delighting audiences in a viral 2016 speech where he voice support for LGBT rights where he described Norwegians as being “girls who love girls, boys who love boys, and girls and boys who love each other”, refugees and religious tolerance. For the later, he stated that Norwegians believed “in God, in Allah, in the universe and in nothing”. Of course, we can’t forget another one of the highlights of his reign, that being approving the knighting of a King penguin called Sir Nils Olav III in 2008. While Olav now resides in Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland, Norwegian soldiers send Christmas cards and fish to him every year and always visit him when they are in Edinburgh. After all, Sir Nils Olav III is the official mascot of King’s Guard of Norway.
He is to be succeed by his son Haakon, the Crown Prince of Norway who has a princess and a prince as his eligible heirs, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and her brother Prince Sverre Magnus. In accordance to a change to the Norwegian Constitution in 1990, Ingrid will succeed her father despite having a younger brother and this change came long after her dad was born in 1973 which saw her aunt and Haakon’s older sister Princess Märtha Louise move backwards in the Norwegian line of succession. Haakon’s wife, Mette-Marit will become his queen consort. Haakon will be the 8th Norwegian king to rule with the Haakon name. The last time this happened was between 1905 and 1957 with the 51 year reign of his great-granddad Haakon VII.