Oslo, Norway – Norway’s royal household confirmed in an official announcement Monday that 89-year-old King Harald V, one of Europe’s longest-reigning sitting monarchs, has been admitted to a local hospital and will take a two-week leave from all official royal duties. The monarch, who has been managing a rare blood disorder called haemolytic anaemia for several weeks, has been undergoing cortisone treatment to address the condition, which reduces the body’s red blood cell count and causes persistent fatigue and shortness of breath.
Palace officials clarified that the current hospitalization is unrelated to his existing blood condition, instead triggered by problematic fluid retention that requires specialized inpatient medical care. During the king’s sick leave, 53-year-old Crown Prince Haakon will assume the role of regent, taking over all of his father’s constitutional and public responsibilities.
King Harald V has a long history of recent health challenges that have already reshaped his public role. In April 2024, the royal household announced that the king would implement a permanent reduction in his public appearances, a decision made to accommodate his advanced age. Despite the scaling back of his schedule, the king—who ascended to Norway’s throne in January 1991 following the death of his father King Olav V—has repeatedly stated publicly that he will never abdicate the throne.
This hospitalization marks the third time the king has required medical care in just over a year. In February 2025, he was hospitalized during a holiday on the Spanish island of Tenerife for treatment of an infection and severe dehydration. Later that year, while traveling in Malaysia, he fell ill and required the implantation of a pacemaker to regulate his heart function. The king’s wife, Queen Sonja, also faced a health scare earlier this year in May, when she was admitted to hospital for cardiac examinations and observation following the emergence of heart-related symptoms.
The latest health developments for Norway’s ruling monarch come at a period of unusual turbulence for the Norwegian royal family. Just months ago, in March 2025, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, the wife of Crown Prince Haakon, made a public televised address addressing her past ties to disgraced American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The crown princess, who exchanged hundreds of emails with Epstein between 2011 and 2014 and once stayed at his Florida estate while he was not present, told the national broadcaster that she deeply regrets her connection to the offender, saying, “It is incredibly important for me to take responsibility for not checking his background more carefully.”
Three months after that public apology, in June 2025, Mette-Marit’s son from a prior relationship, Marius Borg Høiby, was convicted by a Norwegian court on two counts of rape and sentenced to four years in state prison, bringing further negative public attention to the royal household.