Norway's King Harald dies at 89
King Harald V of Norway, Europe’s oldest monarch, has died at the age of 89, after 35 years on the throne. He died on Friday, August 28, just after 6:35am, the Royal House of Norway announced on its website. Harald is succeeded as monarch by his son Haakon. He leaves his wife of 57 years, Queen Sonja, two children, and five grandchildren. His granddaughter Ingrid Alexandra now becomes heir to the Norwegian throne. Harald was Europe’s oldest monarch. The popular king modernized the royal house but refused to follow in the footsteps of other aging monarchs who have abdicated in recent times. His son now automatically becomes King Haakon VIII. Harald was crowned king after his British-born father, King Olav V, died in January 1991, and reigned during an oil-and-gas-driven economic boom in his country. Harald was born in 1937 in Asker, near Oslo, becoming the first Norwegian prince to be born in the country since King Olav IV in 1370. In the followi...