King Harald V of Norway died on August 28 at Oslo University Hospital, aged 89, after being hospitalised since August 17 with haemolytic anaemia. He was immediately succeeded by his son, now King Haakon VIII. In his August 28 tribute, King Charles called Harald his “dear cousin” and wrote that “for thirty-five years, King Harald served his people with unwavering dedication, guiding Norway through times of great change with warmth and humility.” That word — cousin — wasn’t a figure of speech. The two men were genuinely related, through a connection that runs back through a British princess who became a Norwegian queen more than a century ago.

Where the tribute came from

Harald’s reign began on January 17, 1991, following the death of his father, Olav V, and ran for thirty-five years — long enough to make him, at the time of his death, Europe’s oldest reigning monarch. He and Charles had a long-standing personal relationship as fellow European heads of state; Harald and Queen Sonja attended Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in 2022. Charles’s tribute extended condolences directly to “Queen Sonja and all her family, as Britain shares in Norway’s grief at this time of such heartbreaking loss.”

The actual family connection

Charles and Harald were second cousins once removed, and the line runs through Princess Maud, a daughter of Britain’s King Edward VII. Maud married Prince Carl of Denmark in 1896. She became Queen of Norway in 1905, when Carl accepted the Norwegian throne as Haakon VII, according to the Norwegian Royal Court’s biography. Their son Alexander was renamed Olav when his father succeeded to the throne, and Olav was Harald’s father. On the British side, Charles’s grandfather, King George VI, was a first cousin of Olav — which makes Charles and Harald cousins at one further remove. Both men, along with Spain’s King Felipe VI, ultimately trace their ancestry back to Queen Victoria, whose descendants still occupy thrones across Europe more than a century after her death.

The funeral has since taken place

Harald’s funeral took place at Oslo Cathedral on September 9. Our updated account of the ceremony and official procession replaces this article’s earlier uncertainty about funeral arrangements.

Corrected and updated September 25, 2026: Maud’s marriage in 1896 has been distinguished from her becoming Queen of Norway in 1905. The outdated funeral preview and speculation about British attendance have been replaced.