In recent years, abdication has become increasingly common among Europe’s monarchies but one king has just been told by his country that they’d rather he didn’t consider it.
A new opinion poll in Norway has found that almost three quarters of those asked don’t want King Harald V to step aside.
The King of Norway is now 87 and has experienced some health problems in the past few years, including a hospital stay during a holiday which led to him being medically airlifted back to Oslo.
However, 74% of those asked in a survey by the newspaper, Dagbladet, said they don’t want Harald to give up the throne. Only 12% were in favour of an abdication.
King Harald has always been popular in Norway but this latest poll shows an increase in support for the monarch who has reigned since 1991.
The poll took place on August 16th 2024, at a time of controversy for Norway’s royal family. The king’s only daughter, Princess Martha Louise, will marry her long term partner, Durek Verrett, at the end of August. They have been accused of using her royal connections to promote business activities which led to the princess giving up all her patronages and her status as a working royal.
At the beginning of August, the stepson of Crown Prince Haakon was arrested after an incident at a flat. Marius Borg Hoiby, 27, is under investigation for assault of a woman. He later admitted taking cocaine and alcohol at the time of the incident. His mother, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, missed the start of an official visit to the Olympics to be with her son but was later criticised for meeting his alleged victim while a police investigation continues.
However, none of these incidents has damaged King Harald’s standing with the public and it seems to have increased appreciation for his own role in Norwegian life.
King Harald and his wife, Queen Sonja, have spent the summer quietly but as controversy continued to grow they were seen in a series of photographs cheering on their country’s Olympians from home.
