Norway ended 13 days of national mourning on Wednesday as tens of thousands lined the route in Oslo and international royalty and state leaders attended the funeral of King Harald V. Dozens of European royals and several heads of state followed the coffin from the royal palace to Oslo Cathedral, and after the ceremony the new king, Haakon, his wife Queen Mette-Marit and Queen Sonja appeared on the palace balcony to greet the public.
The procession began with ceremonial troops at Akershus Fortress, where Harald was later buried beside earlier monarchs including King Olav V and King Haakon VII. Members of the immediate royal family, including Haakon, his sister Princess Märtha Louise and his children Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus, accompanied the coffin on foot. Mette-Marit, who recently underwent a successful lung transplant, and Queen Sonja followed in a car. A minute's silence was observed across the country.
Representatives from about 30 royal houses attended, among them the Prince of Wales, who represented his father King Charles III, and the Princess Royal, present in a personal capacity as godmother to Norway's new monarch. Three Nordic kings and royals from Sweden, Jordan, Monaco, Belgium, Spain, Japan and Denmark were present. Non-royal guests included Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, alongside five foreign prime ministers.
During the cathedral service, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre paid tribute to Harald, saying the king had struck "a balance between being stately and down-to-earth" and had "made Norway greater." Queen Sonja placed a red rose on the coffin and Queen Mette-Marit was seen wiping her eyes. A brief interruption came when a mobile phone alarm sounded during the bell tolls marking the end of a minute's silence.
The funeral concluded with a ceremonial flypast by four F-35 fighter jets in a missing-man formation. A private burial at Akershus Fortress followed, attended by family members and foreign guests. The day closed with the royal family acknowledging the crowd from the palace, as Norwegian flags across Oslo were raised from half-mast to full staff to mark the end of the burial. King Harald died on 28 August at the age of 89, after a 35-year reign.
