Norway has a new king. Crown Prince Haakon, 53, became King Haakon VIII on Friday following the death of his father, King Harald V. His eldest child now becomes Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra, next in line to the throne.
Haakon isn’t stepping into unfamiliar territory. As his father’s health declined in recent years, he had already served as regent on multiple occasions. Norway’s monarchy traces back to King Harald Fairhair in the ninth century. When the country broke from Sweden in 1905, three-quarters of voters chose to keep the institution in a national referendum. The role today is largely ceremonial, with real power resting in an elected parliament, but the royal family still carries cultural weight and helps promote Norway internationally.
Haakon is Harald’s younger child, born two years after his sister, Princess Märtha Louise. He became heir apparent when his grandfather, King Olav, died in 1991. Norway had changed its constitution the year before to let future firstborn children inherit the throne regardless of gender, though the change wasn’t applied retroactively to Haakon’s generation. In a 1998 book, Haakon recalled dreaming as a child of running a toy shop, before realizing his future was already mapped out for him.
Norway’s King Haakon and Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra meet with ministers for an extraordinary cabinet meeting at the Royal Palace, following the death of King Harald, in Oslo, Norway, August 28, 2026. NTB/Lise Aserud via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NORWAY OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN NORWAY. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
He holds a political science degree from UC Berkeley and a master’s in development studies, focused on international trade and Africa, from the London School of Economics. He graduated from Norway’s Royal Naval Academy in 1995 and also completed a diplomatic training program through the Foreign Ministry. Outside official duties, he’s a surfer, skier, and music fan who has said that had royal life not been his path, he’d likely have pursued surfing instead.
A Relationship That Divided the Country
Haakon met Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby at a Norwegian music festival in 1999. She was a single mother whose son’s father had served time for cocaine possession, and she had a history of attending parties where drugs were present. Norwegians were split, some supportive, others wary. In a 2000 interview, Haakon acknowledged that Mette-Marit had been part of an emerging youth party culture in Oslo in the early ’90s, admitting the scene involved fairly extravagant partying.
Despite the controversy, Haakon secured his father’s blessing to marry her, much as Harald himself had once married a commoner. Norwegians gradually warmed to Mette-Marit, drawn to her down-to-earth manner and visible devotion to Haakon. They married at Oslo Cathedral in August 2001, and their popularity grew as they balanced royal duties with an effort to maintain a relatively normal family life. They have two children together, Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus, and Haakon became stepfather to Mette-Marit’s son from a previous relationship, Marius Borg Høiby, who holds no royal title.
FILE PHOTO: Paris 2024 Olympics – Handball – Women’s Gold Medal Match – Norway vs France – Lille, Pierre Mauroy Stadium, Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France – August 10, 2024. Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway and Crown Prince Haakon of Norway wave in celebration after Norway win the match REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo/File Photo
A Family Under Strain
The royal family’s reputation has taken hits recently. In June, Høiby was sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted on two of four rape charges, along with assault and abuse charges tied to a close relationship; he’s appealing. The trial played out against a backdrop of renewed scrutiny over Mette-Marit’s past contact with Jeffrey Epstein. She’s publicly apologized for the association, describing it as poor judgment, and said in a March interview that she felt manipulated and unsafe during a 2013 visit to Epstein’s Florida residence. She has not been accused of wrongdoing herself.
Mette-Marit has also managed a chronic illness: diagnosed in 2018 with a rare, incurable form of pulmonary fibrosis, she’s periodically had to step back from official duties due to breathing difficulties, fatigue, and weight loss. She underwent a lung transplant in June.
Despite the turmoil, the family has shown moments of warmth publicly — a 2023 NRK interview marking Haakon and Mette-Marit’s 50th birthdays featured old home videos of Haakon playing guitar with his family and dancing with his children, footage he watched on air while laughing and saying it captured him “all in.”
Rebuilding Public Trust
One of King Haakon’s central challenges will be restoring public confidence in the monarchy. Support remains majority-level but has eroded in recent years, taking a particular hit during Høiby’s trial. Some of the criticism has also fallen on Haakon’s sister, Märtha Louise, known for writing about her claimed contact with angels. She ended a 14-year marriage and in 2024 married Durek Verrett, an American who calls himself a shaman and healer; she stepped back from official royal representation in 2022 amid questions about her and her now-husband’s public role.
A late-2022 poll from Dagbladet found 68% of Norwegians wanted to keep the monarchy, down from 81% support recorded by NRK in 2017.
