Norway’s King Harald V dies, succeeded by son

Harald V, who was Europe’s oldest reigning monarch, has died at the age of 89. His son will reign as King Haakon VIII.Norway’s King Harald V has died at the age of 89, after being hospitalised with a rare blood condition.The death of Europe’s oldest reigning monarch was announced on Friday by the Norway" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="195321" data-entity-type="organization">Royal Palace of Norway.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Son of Norway’s crown princess denies rape as trial opens in Oslolist 2 of 3Epstein files set off Norwegian political storm: What we knowlist 3 of 3Norway’s King Harald in ‘extremely serious’ condition, palace saysend of list“King Harald passed away peacefully at Oslo-university-hospital" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="5237" data-entity-type="location">Oslo University Hospital on Friday, Aug 28 at 6:35 a.m,” the palace said in a statement.His son, Crown Prince Haakon, automatically succeeds him and is expected to reign as King Haakon VIII.Royal family members had visited the king on Thursday, and crowds gathered outside the palace and laid flowers for the king after officials warned that his condition had turned “extremely serious”.Harald was hospitalised on August 17, suffering from haemolytic anaemia, a condition caused by an abnormally rapid destruction of red blood cells which leads to fatigue and shortness of breath.Harald, who ascended the Norwegian throne 35 years ago, has had multiple health problems in recent years, forcing him to have a pacemaker fitted and to scale back his official schedule.But he had always ruled out abdicating, arguing that he took a lifelong oath before the Norwegian parliament.People gather at The Palace Square to pay their respects to King Harald V of Norway, who was at Oslo-university-hospital" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="5237" data-entity-type="location">Oslo University Hospital in a serious condition on Thursday [Rune Hellestad/Getty Images]Harald was Norway’s first king born on Norwegian soil since the 14th century. Taking the throne in January 1991, after the death of his father, Olav V, he presided over decades of oil-fuelled prosperity.