THE GUARDIAN: Europe’s royals and global political figures attend ceremony that brings 13 days of national mourning to a close
Norway has observed a minute’s silence as it takes leave of King Harald V in a series of ceremonies, bringing to a close 13 days of national mourning that followed the popular monarch’s death last month at the age of 89.
Tens of thousands of people lined the streets of Oslo and foreign heads of state and government converged on the Norwegian capital for the funeral of the late king, a light-touch and unassuming reformer who ruled for more than three decades.
With the king’s casket carried on an artillery carriage, draped in Norway’s red royal banner and topped with white flowers, the funeral cortege made its way on foot along Oslo’s main avenue from royal palace to the cathedral, as a 21-gun salute rang out from the Akershus fortress.
King Haakon VIII, who succeeded his father on Harald’s death, and other royal family members walked in the cortege, with Harald’s widow, Queen Sonja, 89, and Haakon’s wife, Queen Mette-Marit, who is recovering from a lung transplant in June, following in a car. » | Jon Henley | Europe correspondent | Wednesday, September 9, 2026
