Norway’s Crown Prince becomes King Haakon VIII

• Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon, 53, became King Haakon VIII when his father, Harald V, passed away on August 28. He was 89.

• Haakon is the younger child of Harald, born two years after his sister, Princess Martha Louise. 

• He became heir to the throne when his grandfather, King Olav, died in 1991. 

• The Norwegian Constitution was altered in 1990 to allow future firstborns — regardless of gender — to take precedence in the line of succession.

• Haakon’s oldest child now becomes Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra and the heir to the throne.

• Like other royal houses in Europe, the Norwegian monarchs serve a largely symbolic role, while real power in the democracy of 5.5 million rests with an elected Parliament. 

Who was Harald V?

• Harald was born in 1937 in Asker, near Oslo, becoming the first Norwegian prince to be born in the country since King Olav IV in 1370. 

• Harald was three years old when the Nazis occupied Norway at the start of World War II. To avoid capture, his mother fled with him and his sisters, Ragnhild and Astrid, first to Sweden and then by boat to the US, while Harald’s father and grandfather went into exile in Britain with Norway’s government.

• Harald was crowned after his British-born father, King Olav V, died in January 1991.

• Harald was Europe’s oldest reigning monarch. 

• The popular king modernised the royal house but refused to follow in the footsteps of other ageing monarchs who have abdicated in recent times.