Today's Edition
(AFP)
Norway's King Harald has died aged 89, the palace said on Friday, his 53-year-old son Crown Prince Haakon automatically succeeding him on the throne.
"It is with deep sadness that we announce that His Majesty King Harald passed away today. King Harald passed away peacefully at Oslo University Hospital on Friday, August 28 at 6:35 am," (0435 GMT) it said in a statement.
The flag at the royal palace in Oslo was lowered to half-mast, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
Europe's oldest reigning monarch, King Harald had been in hospital in Oslo since August 17 suffering from haemolytic anaemia, a condition caused by an abnormally rapid destruction of red blood cells which leads to fatigue and shortness of breath.
The royal family had rushed to his bedside on Thursday as the palace announced that Harald's condition was "extremely serious".
His wife Queen Sonja, Haakon and his wife Mette-Marit and their adult children spent much of Thursday at his bedside, with media reporting that Haakon kept vigil overnight.
The public streamed to the palace in central Oslo for a second straight day on Friday, laying flowers on the ground and huddling in groups.
Harald, who ascended the Norwegian throne in 1991, had had multiple health problems in recent years, forcing him to have a pacemaker fitted and to scale back his official schedule.
But he always ruled out abdicating, arguing that he took a lifelong oath before the Norwegian parliament.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store had cancelled a work trip to Germany early Thursday due to the king's deteriorating condition.
Turbulent year
The past year has been a turbulent one for the Norwegian royal family.
In February, King Harald was hospitalised for an infection and dehydration in Tenerife, where he was on a private trip with Queen Sonja.
His wife, also 89, was briefly admitted to hospital in May due to heart problems.
