New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday condoled the death of Norway’s King Harald V and said he was deeply touched by his warmth and profound sense of service to his nation.
King Harald V, who was Europe’s oldest monarch, has died. He was 89.
“Deeply saddened by the passing of His Majesty King Harald V of the Kingdom of Norway. I fondly recall meeting His Majesty during my visit to Norway earlier this year and was deeply touched by his warmth and profound sense of service to his nation. My heartfelt condolences to the Royal Family and the people of Norway,” Modi said in a post on X.
Norway’s King Harald, a reformer who emerged from the shadow of his well-loved, extrovert father over more than three decades on the throne, died on Friday at the age of 89, the royal palace said, at a time of multiple crises for the Norwegian royal family.
“King Harald passed away peacefully at Oslo University Hospital on Friday 28 August, 0635 (local time, 0435 GMT),” the royal palace said on its website.
Harald, who was Europe’s oldest living monarch, was taken to hospital on August 17. The palace said he was being treated for a bacterial infection in his blood.
In 2024, he had been hospitalised for an infection while on holiday in Malaysia and received a temporary pacemaker. He was flown back home by the Norwegian armed forces and later fitted with a permanent device.
That same year, Harald, Norway’s ceremonial head of state since 1991, said he would reduce the number of official engagements in which he took part but ruled out abdication, insisting that his oath as king was for life.
After his death was announced, hundreds of people converged on the palace in Oslo to lay flowers and the government declared nationwide mourning until after his funeral.
