EPAKing Harald V of Norway is in an “extremely serious” condition in hospital, the country’s royal household has said.
His wife, Queen Sonja, and his son, Crown Prince Haakon, have cancelled all royal engagements and they have gathered at his bedside at Oslo University Hospital with other members of the royal family.
The 89-year-old has been in hospital for over a week receiving treatment for a rare blood condition, haemolytic anaemia.
Having been on the throne since 1991, King Harald is Europe’s oldest head of state.
King Harald has been treated in recent weeks with cortisone for haemolytic anaemia, a condition that causes the number of red blood cells in the body to be reduced, and leads to fatigue and shortness of breath.
Members of the royal family were seen arriving at the hospital on Thursday morning, including Haakon’s wife, Crown Princess Mette-Marit and her son Marius Borg Høiby.
King Harald’s sister, Princess Astrid is also at the hospital, according to reports in Norwegian media.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has cancelled a planned trip to Germany, where he was expected to meet Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday.
“The whole nation is with us as we send warm thoughts to the king and the rest of the royal family,” he said in a statement.
Members of the public have also begun laying flowers in Palace Square, in front of the palace in Oslo.
Getty ImagesThe king has had multiple health problems in recent years which have forced him to scale back his royal duties.
He was fitted with a pacemaker in 2024 after falling ill on holiday in Malaysia.
The Norwegian royal family has already faced a challenging year in 2026.
Crown Princess Mette-Marit received a lung transplant in June after she had been diagnosed with a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis in 2018.
The transplant came two days after Høiby was sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted of two counts of rape. He had denied the most serious charges and is to appeal the sentence.
Høiby, 29, was four when his mother married Crown Prince Haakon and is not himself a royal figure.
Also earlier in the year, documents were released revealing Mette-Marit’s frequent contact with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
She later apologised to Norway’s king and queen for her three-year friendship with Epstein and admitted to “poor judgement”, adding in a national TV interview that she wished she had never met him.
