At twelve o'clock sharp the gates of the castle opened and King Harald V began his final journey. His coffin lay on a baton covered with the royal flag. It showed the Norwegian national coat of arms, which shows a golden lion with a crown and a silver ax in its paws. Haakon, Norway's king for twelve days, followed the coffin, alongside him his daughter, the new Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra, his sister Märtha Louise and his son Prince Sverre Magnus.
Queen Mette-Marit drove behind in the car with her mother-in-law, Harald's widow Sonja. The approximately 1.2 kilometer long walk from the Royal Palace to Oslo Cathedral would have been too much for her after her lung transplant. Exactly 60 steps per minute were planned for the half-hour march. At the beginning there was a royal salute and 21 shots every 30 seconds. The cathedral bells rang in the distance.
Thousands of Norwegians lined the path, waiting since early morning to say goodbye to their old king. On Tuesday alone, the last day on which the coffin containing Harald V was laid out in the palace chapel, another 46,000 Norwegians came to say farewell to their monarch.
The coffin was accompanied by six aides, three each from the old and the new king. They are professional soldiers who look after the monarch around the clock in everyday life. The security precautions were high, police and military were on duty. It is said that half of Norway's armed police have been massed in the capital for the day. Oslo city center had been closed since six o'clock in the morning, as had the flight area.
The country has never experienced such a security effort before, one reason being the state guests from all over the world who have arrived, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife Olena. Ukraine has a lot to thank Norway for, relative to its size, Norway is Ukraine's largest supporter. Harald and Zelenskyj valued each other very much.
Following the coffin on foot were family members from all seven European royal families, as well as from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the two principalities of Liechtenstein and Monaco. Also present were representatives from the extinct royal families of Greece and Serbia, the Jordanian royal couple, the Japanese crown prince couple and, from Saudi Arabia, Prince Turki bin Muhammad bin Fahd Al Saud, a great-grandson of the state's founder King Ibn Saud.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier took part on behalf of Germany; he followed the long procession of guests to the cathedral alongside Zelenskyj. American President Donald Trump was also invited, but not even his Vice President J. D. Vance came. The United States was represented by an undersecretary of state from the US State Department.
All states with diplomatic representation in Oslo as well as the NATO, EEA and EU member states that do not have a representation in Norway received invitations to King Harald's funeral. Only Vladimir Putin from Russia and representatives from Myanmar, Sudan and Afghanistan were unwanted at the highest level.
Of course, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who had recently met with Zelensky, and his entire government also took part in the funeral service - both in the cathedral and during the funeral procession.
The presiding bishop of the Norwegian Church, Olav Fykse Tveit, led the service, and the Oslo bishop Sunniva Gylver celebrated the mass with him. The ceremony followed the traditional funeral liturgy of the Church of Norway, with the focus being on the memory of the deceased. Right at the beginning, three bells rang out, symbolizing the triad of life, death and resurrection. This was followed by a one-minute silence across the country.
Marius Borg Høiby, the king's stepson, also sat in the church, a little apart from the family, among the royal guests. Mette-Marit's eldest son, who was convicted of rape among other things, was allowed to attend the funeral with an electronic ankle bracelet, but he was not allowed to follow the funeral procession.
To the right of the coffin sat the Norwegian royal family. Opposite, on the other side, the Swedish royal couple, Carl XVI. Gustaf and Sylvia, the Danish, Frederik X and Mary, and the Jordanian, Abdullah II and Rania. Behind them on both sides are more kings and queens, princes, princes and princesses.
Although seating in Oslo Cathedral was limited, representatives from around 30 organizations of which Harald V was patron are also expected, such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Norwegian Nature Conservation Association, the Hunters and Anglers Association and the Norwegian Cancer Society.
Since Harald V. was very sporty and took part in the Olympic Games as a sailor, outstanding athletes were also at the funeral service: such as cross-country skier Therese Johaug, the biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen and the Norwegian football coach and former football player Ståle Solbakken.
In a particularly moving moment of the ceremony, Harald's widow, Queen Sonja, stood up, took a single red rose in her hand, bowed deeply to the coffin and placed the flower on top of the coffin. Then she sat back down next to her son Haakon, who was fighting back tears. A Bible text was then recited in the Northern Sami language to honor the king's ties to the Sami people.
In his sermon, Olav Fykse Tveit talked about love, especially the love between Harald and Sonja, who were not allowed to get married for a long time because she was a commoner. The then Crown Prince had to fight for nine years for his love, which won in the end and led to a good life. But he also spoke about the love on which Norway was built after the war, and which always wins in the end. After the bishop, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Harald V's godchild, said a prayer said to have come from Saint Francis.
At the end, the Norwegian royal anthem, the royal song (Kongesangen), was played. It used the same melody as the British anthem “God Save The King”. The text of today's version comes from Gustav Jensen in 1906, created for the coronation of Harald's grandfather, King Haakon VII. It is only played on official occasions for the royal family. In it, God is asked to give the king strength, wisdom and a long life in order to rule the people justly and well. In addition, the loyalty and solidarity between the Norwegian people and their king is emphasized.
After the service, Harald will be buried at Akershus Fortress, like his father Olav V and his mother, Queen Märtha. The official state mourning and court mourning after the king's death ends on the day of his burial this Wednesday, but in the royal family the month-long silent mourning period continues until October 9th. King Haakon VIII and the royal family will not attend any official appointments until then, with the exception of constitutionally necessary tasks such as meetings of the State Council or selected audiences.
