King Haakon VIII Just Took Norway's Oath of Allegiance. Here's What the Ceremony Actually Involved

King Haakon VIII took Norway’s Oath of Allegiance to the Constitution before the Storting, Norway’s Parliament, on Tuesday, September 1, at 1:00 pm — four days after his father, King Harald V, died at 89. The ceremony is one of the more procedurally transparent successions among Europe’s remaining monarchies, and it’s worth understanding exactly what happened, since it looks meaningfully different from how a British accession is handled.

What actually happened in the chamber

Haakon, 53, was driven the short distance from the royal palace to the Storting in an open car. Inside, the President of the Storting, Masud Gharahkhani, formally read the announcement of King Harald’s death and Haakon’s succession to the throne — making the transition a matter of parliamentary record before Haakon spoke at all. Only then did the new king take the oath itself: “I promise and swear that I will govern the Kingdom of Norway in accordance with its Constitution and Laws; so help me God, the Almighty and Omniscient.” The President followed with remarks honouring King Harald’s reign and addressed both Haakon and Queen Mette-Marit directly, and the ceremony closed with the Royal Anthem. The full event was broadcast live on NRK and the Storting’s own web platform, with a public screen set up outside the building for anyone who wanted to watch in person.

Why this looks different from a British succession

Norway’s constitutional monarchy requires the new king to swear allegiance to the constitution directly before the elected Parliament, in a public ceremony held within days of the death of the previous monarch. Britain’s system is structurally different: the Accession Council formally proclaims a new monarch, but the monarch’s own oath — administered at the Coronation — has historically come much later, sometimes over a year after accession, as it did for King Charles. Norway compresses the constitutional and ceremonial elements into one early, public event; Britain spreads a formal proclamation and a separate, later coronation across a longer timeline. Neither approach is more or less legitimate — they simply reflect different constitutional traditions for handling the same basic transfer of power.

What comes next

The oath ceremony is a constitutional formality, not the funeral. King Harald’s state funeral is separately confirmed for September 9 at Oslo Cathedral, and Haakon will lead the family and the country through that event as reigning monarch rather than as heir. For the next week and a half, Norway is in an unusual but constitutionally settled position: a new king has been formally sworn in, while the country simultaneously prepares to bury the one he succeeded.