Norway's crown prince becomes King Haakon VIII after his father's death

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norway has a new king, whose tasks will include stabilizing the Scandinavian country's monarchy and boosting the royal family's popularity after his wife's past contacts with deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his stepson's rape conviction.

Crown Prince Haakon, 53, became King Haakon VIII when his father, Harald V, died Friday at 89. Haakon adopted the motto, “All for Norway,” that dates back to his great-grandfather. His wife became Queen Mette-Marit, while his oldest child became Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra and the heir to the throne.

Haakon knows the ropes. As his father aged and his health began to fail in recent years, the prince stepped in as the country’s regent on several occasions.

Norway’s monarchy has old roots, tracing 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. Today, the role is largely symbolic as the power lies with an elected parliament, but the country's royal family retains celebrity and a role in promoting the wealthy nation around the world.

Haakon is the younger child of Harald, born two years after his sister, Princess Märtha Louise. As the oldest male, however, 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. However, it was not applied retroactively.

Haakon said in a 1998 book that as a child he dreamed of owning a toy shop, but he soon realized that his path was already paved and one day he would become king.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California at Berkeley and a master’s degree in development studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science, with a specialization in international trade and Africa. In 1995, he graduated from the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy, and he also completed the Foreign Ministry’s trainee program for diplomats.

An avid surfer, skier and sportsman, he told Norwegian broadcaster NRK that if he hadn’t been a royal, he would have been a surfer. A music lover — he likes rock and rap — he attended festivals across Europe as a youth.

Haakon knew his relationship would face an uphill battle for acceptance when he met Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby at a popular music festival in Norway in 1999. She was a single mother whose son’s father had been sentenced to prison for cocaine possession, and she 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.

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 apologized for the association and said she exercised poor judgment in maintaining contact with him. She isn’t accused of any wrongdoing.

In a television interview in March, she said 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, and 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 68% of respondents saying they wanted to keep the monarchy. When NRK asked the same question in 2017, support for the royal house stood at 81%.

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Dazio reported from Berlin. Olsen, a former AP journalist, contributed reporting previously for this story.

FILE - Norway's Crown Prince Haakon, center, watches canoe sprint competitions at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Vaires-sur-Marne, France. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)

FILE - Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon is photographed outside of a NVIDIA office in Santa Clara, Calif., April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

FILE - Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Crown Prince Haakon arrive for a banquet hosted by the Dutch Royal family at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Monday, April 29, 2013. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza, File)

Norway's Crown Prince Haakon and his wife Crown Princess Mette-Marit arrive at the Monaco palace for the religious wedding ceremony of Prince Albert II of Monaco and Charlene Princess of Monaco, Saturday, July 2, 2011. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler, Pool)

FILE - Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon looks on during a tour at the Amazon Spheres, Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File Photo)

Crown Prince Haakon in a car on his way to the National Hospital in Oslo, Norway, Monday, Aug. 24, 2026 as Norway's King Harald of Norway's health has deteriorated, according to the royal palace. (Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB Scanpix via AP)

Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon drives a car on his way to the National Hospital in Oslo, Monday, Aug. 24, 2026. (Ole Berg Rusten/NTB Scanpix via AP)

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — The fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history has spread to two new health zones in eastern Congo, with a total of 60 now affected, according to the latest government figures published on Friday.

The two new zones affected are Biena and Manguredjipa in Congo’s North Kivu province, where the case fatality rate is much higher than the overall rate of 48%, due in part to delayed response efforts, according to Congo’s Ministry of Health data.

It said the outbreak has recorded 5,794 confirmed cases, including 2,786 deaths, as it is spreading at an unprecedented speed, faster than efforts to track and slow it.

The outbreak is spreading under extremely difficult conditions, fueled by insecurity, displacement, a health workers’ strike and intense population movements. The World Health Organization has said that it remains out of control and is on track to surpass the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak, the deadliest on record, which killed more than 11,000 people, primarily in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

On Thursday, Congo began vaccinating health workers and other front-line workers with the Ervebo vaccine that was effective in past Ebola outbreaks caused by a different, more common type called Zaire.

Clinical trials are underway to find a licensed vaccine for the rare Bundibugyo virus that is causing the current outbreak and which has no approved vaccines or treatments.

Although the current outbreak was declared in mid-May, officials believe it had been spreading since February. It has spread from three health zones to nearly 60, with most cases and deaths occurring outside the network of monitored contacts and within communities.

Efforts to bring the outbreak under control — from limited public gatherings to social distancing and airport closures — have disrupted life in the six affected provinces, particularly Ituri, which has been ravaged by rebel violence.

The government has introduced measures, including installing health and sanitary equipment at some locations, but advocacy groups say more needs to be done to build trust within the community.

The majority of cases are concentrated in the northeastern Ituri province, which accounts for more than 83% of cases, according to the latest government figures.

While neighboring Uganda declared itself free of Ebola last month, the risk of further cross-border spread remains, WHO said Wednesday.

WHO expert Marie Roseline Belizaire said that the Central African Republic is now considered the country at highest risk of spillover, followed closely by South Sudan, as the outbreak in eastern Congo has expanded toward border areas.

Congo’s Health Minister Roger Kamba administers an Ebola vaccine to a health care worker in Kisangani, Congo, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Samy Kamanga)