(CNN) — The death of a monarch can boost national unity, and support for the crown.
Norway’s new King Haakon VIII will be hoping that sentiment rings true following the death of his father, King Harald who died Friday after 35 years on the throne, marking the latest blow for a family reeling from scandal.
The royal clan was thrust into the global spotlight earlier this year, when Queen Consort Mette-Marit, Haakon’s wife of 25 years, made headlines for her past association with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, while her non-royal son from a previous relationship stood trial for rape.
The succession of scandals sparked an open discussion in the country about her suitability to the role of Queen, with some experts even laying out possible options for her withdrawal from royal duties.
But past criticism seems to have softened of late. Instead, the death of Harald V, who was Europe’s oldest reigning monarch, could potentially mobilize a fresh wave of support and empathy for the clan, experts now suggest.
“Maybe people will remember the Epstein scandal, but I think maybe the worst will fade away,” Kjetil Alstadheim, the political editor at Norway’s influential newspaper Aftenposten, told CNN.
The late King’s death could also contribute to “helping the new King and Queen into their roles and their positions because of how people will gather around the institution and the family,” Alstadheim said.
Or as Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre put it on Friday after the news broke, “a whole nation is in mourning.”
Harald’s death was officially announced at an extraordinary Council of State meeting at Norway’s Royal Palace on Friday, as the full title of the new King was formally presented. Haakon chose to keep the personal motto “All for Norway.”
In his first comments following the death of his father, Haakon thanked the Norwegian people for their “support and compassion for the Royal Family during this time.”
Haakon, 53, previously reflected on the power of succession to boost a sense of unity when speaking about the death of his grandfather.
“It made an impression on me,” Haakon told NRK, Norway’s public broadcaster, in 2023. “It did something, with the understanding of how this was going to be for me, and it was also a clear expression that people were happy with my grandfather and the institution.”
“There was a change in my life” at that moment, he said.
Controversial union
Haakon met Mette-Marit in the late 1990s, and the pair married in 2001 at Oslo Cathedral in front of 800 guests and a TV audience of millions.
At the time, Mette-Marit’s openness about what she described as a “wild life” in her youth was well-received, particularly among younger Norwegians.
“It mobilized the younger generations who felt this was a modern monarchy, and they could identify with that,” Alstadheim previously told CNN. “She managed to build trust and be respected.”
But others felt she was an unconventional addition to one of Europe’s oldest royal houses as a single mother and given her reputation for partying.
Speaking about the early days of their relationship, Haakon described Mette-Marit as “confident and worldly.”
“You notice when Mette enters a room,” Haakon told NRK. “The fact that she had a young child really only told me that she wasn’t afraid to take on commitment and responsibility.”
A troubled stepson
That young child would years later spark a major PR crisis for the royal family. In June, Marius Borg Høiby, 29, was sentenced to four years in prison after being found guilty of rape and domestic violence after a seven-week trial that further tarnished the family’s reputation.
Høiby pleaded not guilty to the most severe accusations against him, including those of rape, while admitting to some lesser charges. He is currently under house arrest at Norway’s Skaugum royal estate as he awaits a court decision about whether an appeal will be considered, his lawyer Petar Sekulic told CNN.
Around the same time as Høiby’s trial began, a second scandal erupted, this time implicating Mette-Marit herself.
The Epstein files revealed that she had maintained extensive correspondence with the disgraced financier years after he had pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from a minor. She later expressed regret over the association, saying it did not “represent the person I want to be.”
Royal historian Ed Owens said that as a result, the royal house had no doubt been brought into a “degree of disrepute,” with the family facing a “difficult moment ahead of them in terms of the succession.”
One concern was the family’s “reduced capacity” due to a “lack of manpower,” Alstadheim said, referring to its severe shortage of working royals.
It was announced earlier this year that Mette-Marit would temporarily step back from royal duties to undergo a lung transplant after she was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic progressive lung disease with a poor prognosis, in 2018.
But her absence has “put things into perspective for many people,” said Tove Taalesen, a royal correspondent for news outlet Nettavisen.
“It doesn’t erase what happened, and it shouldn’t. But I believe there is more sympathy for her now,” she told CNN. “I am more interested now in who Mette-Marit will be, after everything she has been through, than in continuing to punish her for mistakes she has already acknowledged.”
Despite the challenges ahead, the royal commentators agree this moment could be unifying for the country, and its support for the monarchy, with Owens calling it a “re-energising of national identity.”
‘A solid foundation’
Haakon, a more energetic King than most European royal houses can lay claim to with a passion for the outdoors, takes the helm of a monarchy that still enjoys substantial support among the public, even if the latest scandals have taken their toll.
A poll in February, during Høiby’s trial, showed its popularity dropped to a record low, but has since recovered. Debates over abolishing or scaling back the institution, which occasionally flare up in the United Kingdom and other nations, are rare in Norway.
It is Haakon’s natural ability to, as Alstadheim puts it, be “close to the people” that brings hope for the monarchy’s future, and its ability to modernize with the times.
In 2023, Haakon said he often gets asked what he would have done if he wasn’t a royal. “I say I would have been a pro surfer on the World Tour,” he told NRK.
The new King also holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California at Berkeley, and credits his experience there with introducing him to people from different backgrounds.
“The Norwegian royal family has managed to modernize gradually,” Alstadheim said. “Building on the popularity of King Harald, Haakon will have a solid foundation for his reign.”
Taalesen agreed. “I believe in him. And I believe the Norwegian monarchy will survive King Harald. That is, after all, the whole idea of a monarchy: the person changes, but the institution continues,” she added.
The new King and Queen Consort have two children together, and the elder – Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra, 22 – now becomes heir to Norway’s throne.
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