Norway has lost more than a monarch. It has lost a father of the nation.
For more than three decades, King Harald V represented something that went beyond the Crown. He became a symbol of continuity, kindness and belonging — a King who understood that Norway was changing, and who chose to embrace the country it was becoming.
He was not simply the King of Norwegians whose families had lived here for generations. He was also the King of those who arrived later: immigrants and refugees, people of different religions and backgrounds, queer Norwegians, and everyone who found a home in this country.
For people like me, who came to Norway and gradually learned to call it home, that mattered.
Perhaps no moment captured this better than his now-famous speech in the Palace Park in 2016.
“Norwegians believe in God, Allah, the Universe and nothing,” he said.
He spoke of Norwegians who came from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Poland, Sweden, Somalia and Syria. He spoke of girls who love girls, boys who love boys, and people who love each other.
And then came the words that, for me, defined his understanding of the country he reigned over:
“Norway is you. Norway is us.”
Those were not simply beautiful words from a King. They were a definition of belonging.
Harald understood that Norway was not only its mountains and fjords, its flag or its borders. Norway was its people — all of them.
His own life was deeply intertwined with the history of the country.
Born in 1937, Harald was only three years old when Nazi Germany invaded Norway in April 1940. The young prince fled with his mother, Crown Princess Märtha, and his sisters, eventually spending much of the war in the United States. His father, Crown Prince Olav, and his grandfather, King Haakon VII, remained with the Norwegian government in exile in London, becoming powerful symbols of Norwegian resistance to the occupation.
Decades later, Harald would inherit not only the throne but the royal motto carried by his father and grandfather: “Alt for Norge” — All for Norway.
His reign would be tested by tragedies of a different kind.
After the terrorist attacks of 22 July 2011, when 77 people were murdered in Oslo and on Utøya, Norway saw a King who did not hide behind the institution he represented.
He grieved.
He cried.
And he stood beside a wounded nation.
In those dark days, the monarchy became less about ceremony and more about presence. Harald helped embody a country determined not to allow hatred to define what came next. Throughout the years that followed, he continued to speak about democracy, human dignity, equality and the importance of standing together against racism and extremism.
That ability to stand with people rather than above them became one of the defining qualities of his reign.
There was warmth in Harald. There was humour. There was an informality that sometimes seemed almost incompatible with the idea of kingship, and perhaps that was precisely why so many people felt close to him.
He managed something difficult: remaining a symbol of tradition while allowing the monarchy to reflect a Norway that had become more diverse, more complicated and more open than the country in which he was born.
As a journalist, I have written about Norway through moments of celebration, political conflict, tragedy and change. But writing these words feels different.
Because King Harald was one of those figures who seemed permanently woven into the landscape of the country.
For immigrants in particular, belonging can be complicated. You can live somewhere for years and still wonder whether you are truly considered part of it.
Harald’s words offered a remarkably simple answer.
Norway is you.
Norway is us.
That is part of the legacy he leaves behind.
A little boy who experienced his country being occupied lived long enough to become the King of a very different Norway — and chose to tell its people, in all their differences, that they belonged to it.
An era has ended.
Norway now moves forward under a new King, but the values Harald articulated at his best should remain larger than any single reign: compassion over hatred, community over division, and a Norway spacious enough to belong to everyone who calls it home.
Thank you, King Harald, for your service, your warmth and your humanity.
May your soul rest in peace, Your Majesty.
Long live King Haakon VIII.
All for Norway.
Featured image: Official portrait of His Majesty King Harald V. Photo: Kimm Saatvedt / The Royal Court of Norway · Foto: Kimm Saatvedt / Det kongelige hoff.
Official sources: The Royal Court of Norway: “Alt for Norge” · King Harald’s 2016 Palace Park speech · The Prime Minister’s statement