Norway has a new king following the death of Harald V on Friday.
Crown Prince Haakon, 53, has acceded to the throne as King Haakon VIII.
The new monarch faces the immediate task of strengthening public support for the monarchy following a scandal regarding his wife’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein and the rape conviction of his stepson.
King Haakon’s eldest child, 22-year-old Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra, now assumes the position of heir to the throne.
King Haakon is well prepared for the role, having frequently served as regent in recent years as his father's health declined.
Norway's royal house traces its heritage to King Harald Fairhair in the ninth century.
Following independence in 1905, three-quarters of voters supported restoring the monarchy in a national referendum.
While political authority rests with an elected parliament, the royal family retains a symbolic role, promoting the wealthy nation globally.
Born two years after his sister, Princess Märtha Louise, Haakon became heir when his grandfather, King Olav, died in 1991.
Although Norway altered its constitution in 1990 to grant absolute primogeniture to future firstborns regardless of gender, the change was not applied retroactively.
Writing in a 1998 book, Haakon said that as a child he dreamed of owning a toy shop, before realising his path to the throne was fixed.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s in development studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science, specialising in international trade and Africa.
He graduated from the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy in 1995 and completed diplomatic training with the Foreign Ministry.
An enthusiastic surfer, skier, and sportsman, he told Norwegian broadcaster NRK he would have chosen surfing as a career were he not a royal. A rock and rap fan, he frequented European music festivals as a youth.
Haakon is married to a commoner
When Haakon met Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby — a single mother whose son's father had been sentenced to prison for cocaine possession — at a popular music festival in Norway in 1999, he knew it was going to be an uphill battle, especially since she also had been seen at parties where illegal drugs were used.
The country was divided. Some cheered for love, others were skeptical. The Norwegian newspaper VG wrote in 2000 that Haakon “lives closer to the people than any other heir to the throne before him”.
In a May 2000 interview with NRK, Haakon said that in the early 1990s, “a youth culture emerged in Oslo" and he acknowledged that Mette-Marit was "an active part of this environment at the time”.
“It is clear that there is relatively extravagant partying there,” Haakon said.
Nevertheless, he won permission from his father, who had also married a commoner, to wed Mette-Marit. And despite her background, the Norwegian people found much to like about this statuesque blond woman with striking eyes and a ready smile, a down-to-earth manner and an undisguised love for Haakon.
They wed in August 2001 at the Oslo Cathedral. The couple's popularity soared thanks to a carefully cultivated blend of the common touch and the glamour and grace demanded of royalty. They were constantly on the covers of gossip magazines, yet tried to live relatively normal and private family lives.
They have two children, Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus. Haakon also became the stepfather of Mette-Marit’s son Marius Borg Høiby, who has no royal title.
Royal family’s reputation hit by Høiby's trial
In June, Høiby was sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted of rape. He was found guilty of two of the four rape charges he was facing and acquitted of the other two. He was also convicted of assault and abuse in a close relationship. Høiby’s lawyers said he will appeal the convictions.
The trial unfolded amid renewed scrutiny of the royal family following disclosures about Mette-Marit’s past contacts with Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased sex offender.
She has publicly apologised for the association and said she exercised poor judgment in maintaining contact with him. She is not accused of any wrongdoing.
In a TV interview in March, she said that she was manipulated and deceived by Epstein and felt unsafe during a 2013 encounter with him at his Palm Beach, Florida, mansion.
In 2018, the royal palace announced that Mette-Marit had been diagnosed with a rare form of chronic pulmonary fibrosis, meaning she sometimes must take a break from her official duties.
The incurable condition made breathing increasingly difficult, she had a dry cough and fatigue, weight loss and loss of appetite. She received a lung transplant in June.
In connection with the couple's 50th birthdays in 2023, NRK interviewed Haakon and aired an old video of him playing guitar, with Ingrid Alexandra and Mette-Marit singing, and another one where he and his children mimic the moves of a Norwegian rapper.
He watched the clips and burst into laughter, saying that they showed that “I am all in.”
One task for the new king will be to shore up popular support for the royal family. While a majority of people still support it, the proportion has declined in recent years and took a battering this year as Høiby's trial played out.
Critics of Haakon's sister, Märtha Louise, who has written books in which she claimed to have contact with angels, also blame her for the family's reputational troubles.
Märtha Louise, who was previously married for 14 years, in 2024 wed Durek Verrett, an American who describes himself as a shaman and a healer on his website.
In 2022, she announced that she would no longer officially represent the Norwegian royal house, following “many questions relating to me and my fiancé’s role”.
A poll published by Norway’s Dagbladet newspaper in late 2022 showed that 68 per cent of respondents saying they wanted to keep the monarchy.
When NRK had asked the same question in 2017, support for the royal house stood at 81 per cent.
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