After the death of King Harald V on Friday, Norway has a new king.
Crown Prince Haakon, 53, has succeeded his father to become King Haakon VIII, according to an official announcement. While the role of king in Norway is mostly a ceremonial and symbolic position nowadays, the monarchy still plays a public role in Norwegian society, representing the country at home and abroad.
As heir to the throne, Haakon has spent a life carrying out royal duties, and he increasingly took on a more central role as his father’s health deteriorated. On Friday, in his first task as king, he met in Oslo with the Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Store, and the cabinet. The new king was accompanied by his daughter, Princess Ingrid Alexandra.
Although Haakon has an older sister, Norway’s succession law used to dictate that male heirs took precedence. The law changed in 1990, meaning Ingrid Alexandra is next in line to the throne.
Haakon was born in Oslo on July 20, 1973, to Harald and Queen Sonja. He has an older sister, Princess Martha Louise. After attending public and private schools in Oslo, he followed family tradition and enrolled in the Norwegian military.
After graduating from the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy, Haakon bucked the tradition of enrolling at Oxford University in England, like his father and grandfather had, and studied political science at the University of California, Berkeley. He then went to the London School of Economics, where he graduated in 2003 with a master’s degree in development studies, with a focus on international trade and African studies.
Like his father, he wedded a “commoner” — a person with no royal ancestor — but his 2001 marriage to Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby was not without controversy. She was divorced and had a young child from her first marriage, and the tabloids soon dug up details of her party-girl past. But the family stood by the couple, and Mette-Marit was accepted by the public.
In recent years however, revelations over her friendship with the convicted block offender Jeffrey Epstein soured public perception. Her eldest son, Marius Borg Hoiby, has also had run-ins with the law. In June this year, an Oslo court convicted Mr. Hoiby of rape, domestic violence and other charges, and sentenced him to four years in prison.
Mette-Marit underwent a lung transplant this year.
Haakon and Mette-Marit have two children together, Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus.
