Norway’s King Haakon VIII Takes the Role He Once Struggled to Accept
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OSLO, August 28 (Saudi Arabia Breaking News) — Haakon VIII became Norway’s king on Friday following the death of King Harald V, assuming a public role he spent years struggling to accept. He is the country’s fourth monarch since Norway chose monarchy after gaining full independence from Sweden in 1905.
His accession comes as two crises place his immediate family under scrutiny: email correspondence between Queen Mette-Marit and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and the criminal case involving Haakon’s stepson, Marius Borg Høiby.
Haakon wrote about his early discomfort with royal attention in his 2023 autobiography, Haakon. “Yes, I was a royal, but I did not want to talk about it…At school it made me anxious.” He became Crown Prince in 1991 and gradually assumed additional duties as his father’s health declined.
Seeking distance from Norway, Haakon chose the University of California, Berkeley, rather than following his father and grandfather to the University of Oxford. California offered a different life shaped by music and surfing, including a heavily policed Nas concert during the East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry.
After returning to Norway in 1999, he met Mette-Marit at a music festival. Their relationship initially drew intense attention because she was a commoner and a single mother, but King Harald publicly welcomed her into the royal family. The couple married in 2001 and had two children, Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus, alongside Marius, Mette-Marit’s son from a previous relationship.
Queen Mette-Marit waited seven weeks before responding publicly after files released by the U.S. Justice Department included correspondence between her and Epstein. Haakon supported her as she addressed the matter in an interview with public broadcaster NRK. During the same period, Marius stood trial on rape and domestic-violence charges, which he denied. Haakon expressed sympathy with the alleged victims while saying he would not attend the trial. Marius was convicted in June on two of four rape counts and one domestic-violence count and sentenced to four years in prison. Both he and the prosecution have appealed.
Haakon wrote that he eventually learned to embrace the position he once resisted. “I can find meaning and joy within it, and I can try and be of help to others.”
Sources: Reuters, Norwegian Office of the Prime Minister
