Norwegian King Harald’s health has ‘deteriorated’, palace says

Norway's 89-year-old King Harald V, currently hospitalized due to complications from a blood condition, has experienced a decline in his health over the weekend, according to a palace statement released on Sunday. The monarch, Europe's oldest reigning monarch, is being treated for haemolytic anaemia, a condition resulting from excessive destruction of red blood cells, which causes fatigue, paleness, and shortness of breath.

Upon entering Oslo University Hospital on Monday, King Harald was admitted due to fluid retention from cortisone treatment and subsequently placed on sick leave for two weeks. The palace mentioned that the king had responded to the bacterial infection treatment in his blood. Several family members, including Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon, and Haakon's wife, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, have visited the ailing monarch in the hospital. However, they did not issue any statements upon departing from the facility.

Harald, who ascended the Norwegian throne in 1991, has faced various health issues in recent years, including the need for a pacemaker and a reduction in his official duties. Despite these challenges, the monarch has ruled out abdication, stating he had pledged allegiance to the Norwegian Parliament. In February, the king was hospitalized in Tenerife for an infection and dehydration during a private trip with Queen Sonja.

Queen Sonja, also 89, was briefly admitted to the hospital in May for heart problems. Harald's health struggles coincide with a difficult period for the Norwegian royal family, as Queen Mette-Marit, 53, has faced scrutiny over her ties to the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and recently underwent a lung transplant due to a serious lung disease.