Norway has announced that King Harald V, who died on August 28 aged 89, would be laid to rest on September 9 after a state funeral at Oslo Cathedral, with a nationwide minute’s silence at 1pm marking the start of the service.
The Royal Court said on August 30 that the ceremony would be led by Olav Fykse Tveit, the presiding bishop of the Church of Norway, with Bishop of Oslo Sunniva Gylver taking part. The coffin would then be taken to the Royal Mausoleum at Akershus Fortress, where Harald’s father King Olav V and grandfather King Haakon VII are buried.
According to the programme outlined by the Norwegian news agency NTB, the day would begin with a private moment in the Palace Chapel for the King’s closest family, before the main gate of the Royal Palace was opened and a 21-gun salute fired from Akershus.
The coffin would be borne in procession to the cathedral, followed by the royal family, representatives of the Norwegian State and foreign guests, with soldiers lining the route.
After the service, a smaller procession would accompany the coffin to Akershus for a private ceremony for the family, European royals and a few Norwegian officials. Harald would be interred in a new double sarcophagus made for him and Queen Sonja.
A second salute would follow the burial and flags at half-mast across the country would be raised to full mast. The Royal Yacht Norge would sound the whistle signal normally used to indicate that the King has left the ship.
King Haakon VIII, who succeeded his father the moment he died, would then greet the public from the palace balcony with his family. The Storting, Norway’s parliament, said the 53-year-old would take the oath of allegiance to the constitution at 1pm on September 1.
Harald’s coffin would lie in state in the Palace Chapel from 2pm on September 1 until 6pm on September 8, the Royal Court said.
Denmark’s King Frederik X and Queen Mary confirmed they would attend, with other European royals and heads of state expected. When Olav V was buried in 1991, dignitaries from 103 nations travelled to Oslo, according to VG.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described Harald as “a true European and a lifelong servant of his people”, while NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte called him “a long-time friend of NATO”.
Harald, in hospital since August 17 with a blood disorder, had reigned since January 1991. His 35 years on the throne spanned the 1994 referendum in which Norwegians rejected European Union membership for a second time, leaving the country outside the bloc but inside the single market through the European Economic Area and the Schengen zone.
