OSLO, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Crown Prince Haakon became Norway’s king on Friday after the death of his father Harald. Here are some facts about the new 53-year-old monarch.
EARLY YEARS
The new king was born Haakon Magnus on July 20, 1973, and went to a state primary school, as is expected of royals in the egalitarian Scandinavian nation — though his secondary school was private.
He joined the navy before studying politics at the University of California, Berkeley and, later, development studies at the London School of Economics.
Haakon developed an early love of music and surfing. He has said that if he were not a royal, he would have aspired to be a pro surfer on the World Tour.
A MARRIAGE TANGLED IN SCANDAL
He met his wife Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoeiby in a bar at a music festival in 1999 in the southern Norwegian city of Kristiansand.
The fact that she was a commoner and a single parent, with a son from a previous relationship, initially triggered a media furore. Two decades later, the U.S. Justice Department released extensive email correspondence between Mette-Marit and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
At the same time, her first son Marius Borg Hoeiby, 29, – now Haakon’s stepson — was standing trial for rape and domestic violence, charges he denied.
In June Marius Borg Hoeiby was found guilty of two out of four counts of rape and one count of domestic violence and sentenced to four years in prison. Both he and the prosecution have appealed the sentence.
Haakon stood by his wife through it all. He said he wanted to support his stepson, but released a statement expressing sympathy with the alleged victims and said Hoeiby should face the judicial system like any other citizen.
WHAT WILL HIS ROYAL NAME BE?
The new king will tell the government which name he has chosen at an extraordinary council of state in the early days of his reign.
He is widely expected to keep his name – as his father did before him — and so become King Haakon VIII of Norway. He could also choose another. Norway’s royal family has no surname.
WHO IS NEXT IN LINE?
Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra, 22, is now heir apparent. She is in line to become Norway’s first female head of state since Queen Margrete I ruled over Norway, Sweden and Denmark at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries. Since reforms introduced in 1990, it is the oldest child, male or female, who prevails in the line of succession.
After Ingrid Alexandra comes Prince Sverre Magnus, 20. He caused a sensation aged 11 with his “dabbing” dance move on the royal balcony during the national day parade in 2017.
Hoeiby is the oldest child in the family, but not in the royal succession.
A EUROPEAN LINEAGE
Haakon is Norway’s fourth king since the country gained full independence from Sweden in 1905.
His great-grandfather — Norway’s first king in the modern era – chose the title Haakon VII to evoke the six, much earlier, King Haakons from the medieval era, when Norway was independent. From the late 14th century until 1814, the country was ruled from Denmark, followed by Sweden until 1905.
The Norwegian royal family has family links to other European monarchies. Haakon VII was the brother of the king of Denmark when the Norwegian parliament formally asked him to take the crown.
Haakon VII’s wife, Queen Maud, was a daughter of Britain’s King Edward VII. That makes the new Norwegian king the great-great-great grandson of Britain’s Queen Victoria.
(Reporting by Nora Buli; Editing by Gwladys Fouche and Andrew Heavens)
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