King Harald V of Norway died on Friday (28) at the age of 89 at Oslo University Hospital, the royal palace announced on its website. According to the statement, carried by Folha de S.Paulo from a Reuters dispatch, the monarch "died peacefully" at 6:35 a.m. local time. Harald was Europe's oldest living head of state and had occupied the throne since 1991, in a strictly ceremonial role with no governing power.
The end came one day after the Royal Household described the king's condition as "extremely serious", prompting the family to gather at his bedside, Poder360 reported, citing the BBC. Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon cancelled all engagements, and Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Princess Astrid, the king's sister, also went to the hospital. Sources differ on the diagnosis: Reuters attributes to the palace information of a bacterial blood infection, with admission on August 17, while the BBC reported hemolytic anemia, a rare condition that reduces the number of red blood cells and had been treated with cortisone.
What it means for Brazil
For Brazil, the change of monarch is expected to have no practical effect on a bilateral relationship that ranks among the country's most consistent with northern Europe. Norway is the main funder of the Amazon Fund, the mechanism that finances anti-deforestation projects in the Brazilian rainforest, and state-controlled energy company Equinor runs oil and gas operations in Brazilian waters. Because the Norwegian monarchy is representative, the commitments between the two governments rest with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and parliament, regardless of who sits on the throne.
The succession is already settled: Crown Prince Haakon, 53, who had served as regent during his father's absence, becomes the new king. On Thursday (27), while the king was still hospitalized, Støre said in a statement: "The whole nation joins us in sending warm thoughts to the king and the rest of the royal family."
A royal family under scrutiny
Harald leaves the throne at one of the most turbulent moments for the Norwegian monarchy. Crown Princess Mette-Marit publicly apologized for a three-year friendship with the late American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and underwent a lung transplant in June because of a rare pulmonary fibrosis diagnosed in 2018. That same month, her son Marius Borg Høiby, 29, was sentenced to four years in prison for two counts of rape and one of domestic violence after a seven-week trial; both the defense and the prosecution appealed. Høiby was born from a relationship before his mother's marriage to Haakon and has no status as a member of the royal family.
Remembered as a reformer who stepped out of the shadow of his outgoing father, King Olav V, Harald won popular affection by breaking with tradition and marrying a commoner, Sonja, now queen. In 2024, he was hospitalized with an infection while on holiday in Malaysia and received a pacemaker, first a temporary one and then a permanent device. That year, he announced he would scale back his official schedule, but ruled out abdication, insisting that his oath as king was for life.