King Harald, Norway's reform-minded head of state, dies at 89

Norway's King Harald V, who fled to the United States as a child during the Nazi occupation of his homeland and married his school sweetheart, has passed away at the age of 89. The royal palace announced his death at the National Hospital in Oslo on Friday at 6:35 a.m. Harald was Europe's oldest monarch. Upon his father King Olav V's death in January 1991, Harald became king and reigned during a prosperous period for Norway fueled by the oil and gas industry.

Born in Asker, near Oslo, in 1937, Harald was the first Norwegian prince to be born in the country since 1370. During World War II, when the Nazis occupied Norway, Harald's family went into exile in Sweden, then to the United States to escape capture. Harald's father and grandfather went to Britain with Norway's government. Harald's first official duty came at the age of 6 when he christened new warplanes at a Norwegian air base in Canada. The family returned to Norway in June 1945 after the end of the war.

As a young man, Harald was expected to find a European princess as a bride but refused nine offers, ultimately marrying his school sweetheart, Sonja Haraldsen, in 1968. The couple had two children, Haakon and Märtha Louise. In 1990, the Norwegian Constitution was amended to allow the first-born child, regardless of gender, to succeed to the throne, but this change was not retroactive.

Harald assumed the throne on January 21, 1991, under the motto "All for Norway," striving to modernize the monarchy during his reign. King Harald garnered praise for his emotional speech after a terrorist attack in 2011 and for his support of LGBTQ+ equality, refugees, and religious tolerance.