Norway’s new monarch has taken the name King Haakon VIII, the Royal Palace announced on 28 August. The announcement came shortly after the previous King of Norway, Haakon’s father Harald V, died at dawn on Friday at the age of 89.
The 53-year-old king has chosen the personal motto ‘All for Norway’, in keeping with the motto chosen by his father, grandfather and great-grandfather since the founding of the modern Norwegian monarchy in 1905.
The news of Harald V’s death was announced on the morning of 28 August at the Royal Palace and the Norwegian Parliament, the Storting.
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Harald was the longest-reigning European monarch: he ascended the throne in 1991.