Solemn Prince William joins the world’s royals in mourning at King Harald of Norway’s funeral – as the new Queen’s disgraced son is released from house arrest to attend

Prince William and Princess Anne have today joined royals from around the world at the funeral of King Harald V of Norway.

The Prince of Wales represented his father King Charles at the service at Oslo Cathedral, while his aunt, the Princess Royal, attended in a private and personal capacity as godmother of the new King Haakon VIII.

They were joined by other royals from around the world, including King Felipe of Spain, Queen Rania of Jordan and Princess Charlene of Monaco. 

The coffin was taken from the palace to the cathedral in a procession of senior Norwegian royals including King Haakon, foreign guests and representatives from Norway’s and other parliaments. 

Haakon walked behind the coffin, draped with the red Norwegian royal standard, alongside his eldest child Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra, now heir to the throne, his son Prince Sverre Magnus and his sister Princess Martha Louise.

The King’s stepson Marius Borg Hoiby, who is currently serving a four-year prison sentence under house arrest at his parents’ Skaugum Estate while he appeals his conviction for two counts of rape, was also in attendance.

He previously joined his relatives to carry the coffin of Harald from the Royal Palace to the palace chapel last week while temporarily released, sparking fierce backlash from royal fans.

The Bishop of Oslo Sunniva Gylver looked somewhat stern as she greeted Hoiby on the steps of the cathedral ahead of the service.  

His mother Queen Mette-Marit, who missed her husband’s swearing-in ceremony due to ‘complications’ from her recent lung transplant surgery in June, and Harald’s widow Queen Sonja followed the coffin in a car. 

King Frederik and Queen Mary of Denmark and King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden also joined the procession.

Political leaders including Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Store, German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy were also in attendance. 

The public lined the streets of the Norwegian capital in their thousands to bid a final farewell to Harald, who reigned for 35 years.

Scores of churches, libraries, cultural centres and city halls were also making big screens available for the public to watch the funeral, public broadcaster NRK reported.

A 21-gun salute rang out over the capital at the start of the funeral procession.

King Charles did not at the event because under royal precedent the sovereign does not attend funerals of other heads of state, and so the duty fell to William. 

The Prince of Wales also represented his father at the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican in April last year.

Charles paid tribute to his ‘dear cousin’ and ‘much-loved kinsman and friend’ after news of Harald´s death was announced.

In a statement released by Buckingham Palace, Charles said the monarch served the people of Norway with ‘unwavering dedication’ and guided them through times of change with ‘warmth and humility’. 

Queen Elizabeth II and King Harald were second cousins and shared the same great-grandparents, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. William and the now Princess of Wales carried out an official tour to Norway in 2018.

The Norwegian royal house also has kinfolk in other European royal families. Harald and Haakon are related to both King Charles and Spain’s King Felipe, who are all descendants of Queen Victoria. 

King Harald V passed away on August 28 at the age of 89 after suffering a rare blood condition known as haemolytic anaemia.

His son immediately became King Haakon VIII and last week pledged an oath of allegiance to Norway’s constitution in parliament.

Ahead of the funeral, Norwegians waited patiently to file past Harald’s coffin as it lay in state in the chapel of the royal palace in Oslo, with the queue stretching seven hours long over the weekend.

After the funeral, Harald’s coffin will be taken in a procession to the palace chapel at Akershus Castle, where the late king’s ancestors are buried.

After a private ceremony for the Norwegian royals, who will be joined by some of the foreign guests and senior Norwegian officials, it will be lowered into the crypt.

Today, the throne’s role in Norway is largely symbolic and power lies with the elected government and parliament, but the Norwegian royal family retains a role in promoting the wealthy Scandinavian nation around the world.

Norway’s monarchy traces its origins to King Harald Fairhair in the ninth century. When Norway regained its independence from Sweden in 1905, three-quarters of voters in a national plebiscite approved restoring the monarchy.

A minute’s silence was held across Norway at the start of the funeral ceremony. Eulogies were delivered by Norway’s parliament speaker and prime minister, and there was a candle-lighting ceremony with representatives of different faiths.

The government says it’s not an official holiday, but schools and workplaces could individually opt to let students and employees tune in for today’s events. The government advised that ‘noisy events should be suspended while the funeral is ongoing’. 

Earlier today, European royalty were spotted arriving at the five-star Grand Hotel in the capital after having landed at Oslo Airport.

Spain’s King Felipe was photographed exiting a bus before entering the luxury accommodation, waving at cameras as he walked on a red carpet toward the entrance of the lobby, while carrying a beige-toned duffel bag.

Several royals also arrived at the same hotel on Tuesday, with Luxembourg’s former Grand Duke Henri, Princess Alexia of Greece and her husband Carlos Morales Quintana stepping off a bus, while Japan’s Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko arrived in a Mercedes-Benz.

According to TV 2, many of these high-profile guests opted for shared transit later that day. 

A group including King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain, the former Grand Duke of Luxembourg Henri, Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia and Crown Princess Katherine of Serbia, Prince Alois of Liechtenstein, Princess Alexia of the Netherlands and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece travelled together by transit bus to the Palace for the ceremony.

Norway’s Queen Mette-Marit faced an awkward reunion with Luxembourg’s Grand Duchess Stephanie at the funeral after calling her wedding to Grand Duke Guillaume ‘deadly boring’ in an email to Jeffrey Epstein.

In an email dated October 21, 2012, Mette-Marit, 53, who has faced intense scrutiny for her friendship with the paedophile financier, wrote: ‘Boring wedding. Was like some kind of old movie. Where you know the characters are not hanging around for much long[er].’

The email was sent from a redacted address under the name ‘HKH Kronprinsessen’ after Mette-Marit and Haakon joined Harald, Queen Sonja and several European royals for the Grand Duke and Duchess’s two-day nuptials on 19 and October 20, 2012.

Haakon’s wife was forced to apologise earlier this year when it was revealed that she exchanged dozens of emails with ‘sweetheart’ Epstein despite his conviction for soliciting sex from girls as young as 14.

After the extent of her friendship with Epstein was revealed following the release of the Epstein Files, Mette-Marit, who was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in 2018, issued a grovelling apology as she said the emails do ‘not represent the person I want to be’.

Harald stood by his daughter-in-law at the time as he reiterated ‘we must remember that the Crown Princess has not done anything illegal’ and that she deserved ‘credit’ for ending their friendship ‘very early’.

Fresh scandal also came in June when Mette-Marit’s son from a previous relationship, Marius, was convicted on two counts of rape and jailed for four years following a six-week trial that laid bare allegations of violence, drug abuse and sexual misconduct.

An Oslo court also found him guilty of assaulting his former girlfriend, Nora Haukland, issuing threats and committing traffic offences, although he was acquitted of two other rape charges.

The 29-year-old had been charged with sexually assaulting four women who were asleep or otherwise unable to resist between 2018 and 2024.

The conviction marked a fall for Hoiby, who grew up in the public eye after his mother married then Crown Prince Haakon in 2001 when he was just four years old.

Although he does not hold a royal title or carry out official duties, he has long been closely associated with the Norwegian royal family.

Judge Jon Sverdrup Efjestad handed down the sentence after hearing evidence linked to 40 charges, including four alleged rapes, assaults, breaches of restraining orders, drug offences and driving violations. One charge relating to a restraining-order violation was overturned.

The court heard how Hoiby’s drug addiction spiralled in recent years, while investigators presented more than 800 messages and a series of self-made videos of sexual encounters as evidence during the trial.

One alleged rape took place in the basement of the family home, the court was told.

Høiby, who denied the most serious allegations while admitting to some lesser offences, was not physically present in court for the verdict and instead joined proceedings via video link.

The death of King Harald comes after he was being treated at Oslo University Hospital for haemolytic anaemia, a disorder which causes red blood cells to be destroyed at an abnormally fast rate.

It came just two years after the Norwegian suffered a similar problem while on holiday in Malaysia. That ordeal resulted in him having a pacemaker fitted.

The monarch had, however, insisted that he would never abdicate from his position due to poor health, arguing that he took a lifelong oath before ascending to the throne in 1991.

‘I stick by what I’ve always said, that I swore an oath to the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) and it is for life,’ he said previously.

However, the palace said his health had ‘deteriorated’ after he contracted an infection, with members of the Norwegian Royal Family rushing to his bedside the Thursday before his passing.

‘It is with deep grief that we announce that His Majesty King Harald has passed away,’ Norway’s Royal Court said in a statement.

‘King Harald died peacefully at Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet Friday, August 28 at 6.35am.’