King Harald has died. Long live the king! The characteristic ritual expression that so well defines the continuity of power in any Monarchy since the throne is never left vacant comes true again in a Norway that, on one hand, mourns who has been its sovereign since 1991, Harald V, who passed away at the age of 89, and on the other greets the new era that opens with his successor. The until yesterday crown prince Haakon is now King Haakon VIII – his great-grandfather Haakon VII was the first monarch of modern Norway since its independence in 1905, although the Scandinavian Monarchy has a millenary history -. Although the formal proclamation of the new holder of the Crown will take place in a few days, when he swears the Constitution before the Parliament, Haakon is for all intents and purposes king from the very moment of the certification of his father’s death.
“Being king is something you cannot fully prepare for,” he stated in a documentary by the Norwegian channel TV2 in 2020, in which he spoke openly about his work and warned that there would not be many changes regarding his father’s style of reign. At the end of the interview, however, the then Heir did admit that he would have to fill very big shoes when he assumed the role of king: “But I have to do it my way. I must not try to be anyone other than myself, then it will be a little easier.” He assured that he would “probably” be a different king from his father because they have “different personalities and we are different people, and we can solve things in slightly different ways.”
Haakon takes the head of State at 53 years old. And in very different circumstances from what he could have imagined six years ago. Back then, the Monarchy enjoyed an acceptance of around 75% – one of the highest in all of Europe -, the dynasty was widely respected and he as Heir felt deeply loved. Today it is not that the institution is at risk. Far from it. 65% of citizens want Norway to remain a parliamentary Monarchy and up to 78% trust that Haakon will do “very well” or “quite well” as king, according to a survey conducted by InFact for Nettavisen and released in early March, amid one of the biggest storms for the institution that have so affected its image – the prosecution and subsequent conviction for rape and other crimes of Marius, the illegitimate son of the now queen Mette-Marit and stepson of Haakon himself who has raised him as if he were one of his own descendants; and the scandal over revelations of Mette-Marit’s close friendship with the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein -.
The problem is that polls and public opinion also reveal that the long honeymoon of the Monarchy with Norwegians has ended and that they now demand changes, reforms, total transparency, amid much more demanding scrutiny. Something the new monarch will have to address boldly and competently to consolidate his reign. And, even more delicate, the same survey reflected that only 31% of citizens see Haakon’s wife as capable of serving as queen. After having forgiven her for decades for her past excesses and having given her the great opportunity to become a real Cinderella, Norwegians see their patience exhausted by the behavior of a frivolous princess, little committed to her status, irresponsible and who is also directly blamed for both Marius’s bad manners and the fact that his crimes have so seriously tainted the Crown.
The reputational crisis coincided for Mette-Marit with her delicate state of health. In June she was successfully operated on for a lung transplant at the National Hospital of Oslo (Rikshospitalet). The intervention was due to the worsening of the chronic pulmonary fibrosis she has suffered since 2018. These months, Haakon’s wife has remained completely away from the spotlight. And her few public appearances have been her visits first to her son Marius in the provisional prison where he was held, accompanied by Haakon himself, and recently to the hospital to inquire about the evolution of her father-in-law Harald.
In the marital matter Haakon is going to have a hard time. But he made it clear that he was not going to give in . “I always want her on my team”. With those words he ended months ago the speculations and even demands for him to separate from his wife for the good of the institution. “I think it is significant to reflect on the foundations that the crown princess and I have built. We are based on something solid. We have been together for more than 25 years and we have built it in a way that keeps us united. When you marry, it is for better or worse”, concluded the only son of kings Harald and Sonia before the cameras of the Norwegian public television.
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The advantage for Haakon, his window of opportunity, as we pointed out, is that he still maintains high popularity, he is a beloved leader, someone in whom Norwegians continue to place their trust. And hence his first steps as the new monarch will be decisive to restore the damaged image of the institution and broaden again the base of support.
Haakon Magnus was born on July 20, 1973, at the Riskshospitalet hospital in Oslo. Before him, his sister Princess Märtha Louise had arrived in this world. But then, although the Salic law had been abolished in 1971, the regulation in the order of succession respected cognatic primogeniture with male preference at the same degree – exactly the same as what the Constitution in Spain still establishes today -. Hence Haakon became the Heir as soon as he cried his first cry. Already in 1990, a year before Harald V ascended the throne, laws were amended to establish absolute primogeniture, but without retroactive effect, so Haakon’s rights remained secured.
Haakon and Mette-Marit met in 1999, two years before marrying, during a music festival. He would say that he “was surprised by the normality of the brilliant southerner” and that the fact that she had a son of almost three years old he saw as a sign that “she was not afraid to take on commitment and responsibility.” It became known that the prince threatened to renounce his dynastic rights if he could not take her to the altar, an option he himself confessed was one he never seriously believed he would have to face. For the highly respected Harald, in any case, the vicissitudes he had gone through to marry the seamstress Sonia must have weighed heavily – although the only controversial thing in the current queen’s biography was her plebeian origin -. Memories softened him and he swallowed the bitter pill.
From the marriage come the two children in common, Princess Ingrid, now the new Heir to the throne, and her brother, Prince Sverre Magnus.
As Haakon said, nothing prepares you for the fact of suddenly becoming king. However, he already has extensive experience in government tasks, since he has served as regent on countless occasions. The first time he replaced his father was in 2003, when Harald was operated on for bladder cancer. And since then, he has given ample proof of responsibility every time he has had to act as monarch substitute due to his father’s convalescence or temporary absences from the country, since in Norway the system of temporary regencies is perfectly established, as in almost all European Monarchies. This will undoubtedly help Haakon VIII to assume the highest magistracy of the State at this moment of mourning in which the courtiers must shout out loud “the king is dead. Long live the king!”.