King Harald of Norway, 88, to reduce public commitments
The king of Norway is to permanently scale back his duties after suffering an illness earlier this year.
King Harald, the Scandinavian country’s 88-year-old sovereign, will reduce his public commitments, the palace said on Monday.
The move will entail a “permanent reduction in the number and scope of activities in which the king participates”, the royal house said in a statement.
Europe’s oldest reigning monarch only returned to official duties this week after being hospitalised while on holiday in Malaysia in February.
Doctors then implanted a pacemaker due to a low heart rate and he was flown back to Norway on an evacuation flight several days later.
His son Hakaan, 50, took over royal duties while he recovered.
Norway’s royal house said that despite his reduced calendar, the king would still conduct audiences at the palace and travel around the country for official visits.
“Practical arrangements will also be made in the implementation of his official activity,” it said in a statement which cited “his age” as the reason for the decision.
Harald V has been on the throne since 1991 when he took over from his father, Olav V.
Despite the news, the king’s first day back at work still contained three meetings with senior commanders in the armed forces.
Harald and his wife, Queen Sonja, have set a modernising tone during their reign.
A speech he made at a royal garden party in 2016 went viral after he cited his family’s own immigration from England a century early as a reason to embrace refugees.
“It is not easy to say where we come from… home is where the heart is,” he said.
Surveys regularly show that the monarchy and the king personally remain solidly popular among the Norwegian public.
Two-thirds said they wanted him to keep going despite his age, while over seven in ten said they favoured the monarchy, a poll for public broadcaster NRK showed earlier this year.
Harald has ruled out abdicating, saying that taking on the crown was an oath “that lasts for life”.
