Princess Astrid of Norway, the elder sister of the late King Harald, has died aged 94, according to an announcement from the royal palace on Friday.
Her death comes just weeks after the loss of her brother, who died last month at 89 following more than three decades as Norway’s monarch. Astrid’s final public engagement was his state funeral on Wednesday.
“Throughout her long life, Princess Astrid represented the Royal House in a warm and dutiful manner,” King Haakon VIII said in the palace statement.
King Harald V, who died on August 28, was buried at a September 9 memorial service marked by unusually open emotion from members of the normally reserved Norwegian royal family.
After Queen Elizabeth II, Harald had been Europe’s longest-serving reigning monarch, having led Norway for more than 35 years.
The late king had been receiving treatment for haemolytic anaemia, a condition in which red blood cells break down more quickly than normal.
In the wake of his death, crowds of mourners gathered outside Oslo’s palace on Friday, leaving floral tributes and Norwegian flags in a moving show of national grief.
Harald was succeeded by his son, Haakon, who delivered his first address to the nation since his father’s death last Saturday.
Princess Astrid attends the state funeral for King Harald.
Princess Astrid attends the state funeral for King Harald.
King Harald of Norway, cousin of King Charles III, died at the age of 89 after a brief stay in hospital
Following Harald’s death, the palace said his health had ‘deteriorated’ after he contracted an infection.
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‘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.’
King Charles said he had extended his ‘deepest and most heartfelt condolences’ to the Norwegian royal family following the death of his ‘dear cousin’.
The pair were second cousins once removed, sharing great-great-grandparents Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark.
‘As Norway mourns the loss of so towering a figure, my whole family join in remembering a much-loved kinsman and friend whose kindness, compassion and deep sense of duty echoed from across the sea and across the decades,’ King Charles III said.
‘The Queen and I extend our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to Queen Sonja and all her family, as Britain shares in Norway’s grief at this time of such heartbreaking loss.’
The new monarch’s wife, Mette-Marit, 53, has faced intense scrutiny following the release of the Epstein Files, which revealed she stayed at paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s Palm Beach residence in 2013 – after he was convicted for soliciting sex from girls as young as 14.
One email released suggested she was still in contact with the billionaire financier just months before his death.
The new queen claimed this year that she had been misled by the late sex offender as she sought to contain the fallout.
Fresh scandal also came in June when Mette-Marit’s son, Marius Borg Høiby, 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.