OSLO, Norway (AP) — 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 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.
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Norway's Marius Borg Hoiby, center, leaves the Oslo Cathedral after a funeral service for Norway's King Harald V in Oslo, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Norway's King Harald V's coffin is taken to the royal mausoleum in the crypt at Akershus Castle after the funeral ceremony in Oslo Cathedral, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Terje Pedersen/Pool Photo via AP)
The coffin of Norway's King Harald V is followed in the procession route for his funeral as it arrives at Oslo Cathedral in Oslo, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Norway's King Haakon VIII, King Carl Gustaf and King Frederik walk behind the bier carrying King Harald V from Oslo Cathedral to Akershus Fortress, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Trond R. Teigen/NTB Scanpix via AP)
Norway's Prince Sverre Magnus, from 2nd left, King Haakon VIII, Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Princess Märtha Louise walk behind the coffin of King Harald V during a procession from the Royal Palace to Oslo Cathedral, in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Cornelius Poppe/Pool Photo via AP)
The funeral ceremony for King Harald V in Oslo Cathedral on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Lise Aserud/Pool Photo via AP)
The coffin carrying Norways King Harald V arrives in the procession for his funeral at Oslo Cathedral in Oslo, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
A view of the funeral ceremony of King Harald V at Oslo Cathedral, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Stian Lysberg Solum/NTB Scanpix via AP)
Norway's Queen Sonja and Queen Mette-Marit follow the procession carrying the coffin of King Harald V from the Royal Palace to Oslo Cathedral, in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Håkon Mosvold Larsen/NTB Scanpix via AP)
Members of Norway’s royal family, from left, Prince Sverre Magnus, King Haakon VIII, Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Princess Märtha Louise walk behind the coffin of King Harald V as it is carried from the Royal Palace to Oslo Cathedral in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Ole Berg-Rusten Name/NTB via AP, Pool)
The coffin of King Harald V is taken in procession from the Royal Palace to Oslo Cathedral, in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Håkon Mosvold Larsen/NTB Scanpix via AP)
The coffin of Norway’s King Harald V is carried from the Royal Palace to Oslo Cathedral during a funeral procession in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Ole Berg-Rusten Name/NTB via AP, Pool)
The coffin of Norway’s King Harald V is carried from the Royal Palace to Oslo Cathedral during a funeral procession in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Ole Berg-Rusten Name/NTB via AP, Pool)
Military personnel wait in front of Oslo Cathedral ahead of the procession for the funeral of Norway's King Harald V in Oslo, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
The coffin of King Harald V is taken in procession from the Royal Palace to Oslo Cathedral, in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Håkon Mosvold Larsen/NTB Scanpix via AP)
Sweden's King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia on board a bus at Oslo Airport as they arrive for King Harald V funeral, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Frederik Ringnes/NTB Scanpix via AP)
Soldiers march up Karl Johan before the coffin of King Harald V is carried from the Palace to Oslo Cathedral, on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2025. (Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB Scanpix via AP)
Members of the public wait behind a barrier along the route of the procession for the funeral of Norway's King Harald V near Oslo Cathedral in Oslo, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Police officers reflected in a window with a display showing Norway's late King Harald V prior to his funeral in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Norway's King Harald V's coffin is moved by King Harald's family and court staff from the Red Salon to the Palace Chapel in Oslo, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Javad Parsa/Pool Photo via AP)
A painting of Norway's late King Harald stand in flora tributes at the Palace Square in Oslo, Norway, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is transported after arriving in Oslo, Norway, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, one day ahead of King Harald V's funeral. (Frederik Ringnes/NTB Scanpix via AP)
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 Zelenskyy.
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 parliament's speaker, 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.”
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 across the country of about 5.6 million. Scores of churches, libraries, cultural centers and city halls made big screens available for the public to watch the funeral, public broadcaster NRK reported. The government said it wasn’t an official holiday, but schools and workplaces could individually opt to let students and employees watch.
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.
“The love between the people and King Harald has not ended — quite the contrary,” said Bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, who led the funeral service, pointing to the tributes left outside the palace after his death. “The sea of flowers, along with the words and drawings that accompany them, speaks loudly and clearly of a heart so full that it overflows.”
After the funeral, Harald's coffin was taken in a smaller procession to Akershus Fortress, where his predecessors are buried in the crypt of the palace chapel. Haakon followed with the two other Scandinavian monarchs, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and King Frederik X of Denmark.
Among those who attended the funeral was Mette-Marit’s eldest son and Haakon's stepson, Marius Borg Høiby, who has no royal title or duties. Høiby is appealing against a rape conviction after a trial earlier this year that cast a shadow over the royal family.
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.
Associated Press writers Geir Moulson in Berlin, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Claudia Ciobanu in Warsaw, Poland contributed to this report.
Norway's Marius Borg Hoiby, center, leaves the Oslo Cathedral after a funeral service for Norway's King Harald V in Oslo, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Norway's King Harald V's coffin is taken to the royal mausoleum in the crypt at Akershus Castle after the funeral ceremony in Oslo Cathedral, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Terje Pedersen/Pool Photo via AP)
The coffin of Norway's King Harald V is followed in the procession route for his funeral as it arrives at Oslo Cathedral in Oslo, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Norway's King Haakon VIII, King Carl Gustaf and King Frederik walk behind the bier carrying King Harald V from Oslo Cathedral to Akershus Fortress, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Trond R. Teigen/NTB Scanpix via AP)
Norway's Prince Sverre Magnus, from 2nd left, King Haakon VIII, Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Princess Märtha Louise walk behind the coffin of King Harald V during a procession from the Royal Palace to Oslo Cathedral, in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Cornelius Poppe/Pool Photo via AP)
The funeral ceremony for King Harald V in Oslo Cathedral on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Lise Aserud/Pool Photo via AP)
The coffin carrying Norways King Harald V arrives in the procession for his funeral at Oslo Cathedral in Oslo, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
A view of the funeral ceremony of King Harald V at Oslo Cathedral, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Stian Lysberg Solum/NTB Scanpix via AP)
Norway's Queen Sonja and Queen Mette-Marit follow the procession carrying the coffin of King Harald V from the Royal Palace to Oslo Cathedral, in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Håkon Mosvold Larsen/NTB Scanpix via AP)
Members of Norway’s royal family, from left, Prince Sverre Magnus, King Haakon VIII, Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Princess Märtha Louise walk behind the coffin of King Harald V as it is carried from the Royal Palace to Oslo Cathedral in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Ole Berg-Rusten Name/NTB via AP, Pool)
The coffin of King Harald V is taken in procession from the Royal Palace to Oslo Cathedral, in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Håkon Mosvold Larsen/NTB Scanpix via AP)
The coffin of Norway’s King Harald V is carried from the Royal Palace to Oslo Cathedral during a funeral procession in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Ole Berg-Rusten Name/NTB via AP, Pool)
The coffin of Norway’s King Harald V is carried from the Royal Palace to Oslo Cathedral during a funeral procession in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Ole Berg-Rusten Name/NTB via AP, Pool)
Military personnel wait in front of Oslo Cathedral ahead of the procession for the funeral of Norway's King Harald V in Oslo, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
The coffin of King Harald V is taken in procession from the Royal Palace to Oslo Cathedral, in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Håkon Mosvold Larsen/NTB Scanpix via AP)
Sweden's King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia on board a bus at Oslo Airport as they arrive for King Harald V funeral, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Frederik Ringnes/NTB Scanpix via AP)
Soldiers march up Karl Johan before the coffin of King Harald V is carried from the Palace to Oslo Cathedral, on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2025. (Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB Scanpix via AP)
Members of the public wait behind a barrier along the route of the procession for the funeral of Norway's King Harald V near Oslo Cathedral in Oslo, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Police officers reflected in a window with a display showing Norway's late King Harald V prior to his funeral in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Norway's King Harald V's coffin is moved by King Harald's family and court staff from the Red Salon to the Palace Chapel in Oslo, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Javad Parsa/Pool Photo via AP)
A painting of Norway's late King Harald stand in flora tributes at the Palace Square in Oslo, Norway, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is transported after arriving in Oslo, Norway, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, one day ahead of King Harald V's funeral. (Frederik Ringnes/NTB Scanpix via AP)
