Norway’s 86-year-old king tests positive for COVID-19 and has mild symptoms

HELSINKI (AP) — Norway’s 86-year-old King Harald V, who has been in frail health in the past few years, has tested positive for the coronavirus and has mild symptoms, royal officials said on Sunday.

“His Majesty the King has been diagnosed with corona and is on sick leave until he is symptom-free. The king has cold symptoms and stays at home,” the royal household said in a brief statement.

The Norwegian monarch had also tested positive in March 2022 with mild symptoms. Officials have earlier said Harald had received three COVID-19 vaccine shots but it’s not known whether he had received booster shots.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre wished the king “a speedy recovery” in a comment to the Norwegian news agency NTB, which said Harald’s son and heir to the throne, Crown Prince Haakon, would take over his duties for now.

The aging monarch, who has been seen using crutches in various occasions, has been hospitalized several times in recent years.

In August 2022, he spent three days with a fever at a hospital, and in December the same year, he was again admitted for an infection that required intravenous antibiotics.

In October 2020, the king underwent surgery to replace a heart valve after being hospitalized with breathing difficulties.

Despite health problems, he has been attending major public events in Norway and its Nordic neighbors. In September, Harald attended celebrations in Stockholm marking the 50th anniversary of Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf’s accession to the throne.

In May, the monarch, who was released from a hospital just days earlier, appeared on the royal castle’s balcony in Oslo to salute the thousands of children marching by as the country celebrated its Constitution Day.

The king is Norway’s head of state but holds no political power, so his duties are ceremonial. Harald ascended to the throne following the death of his father, King Olav, in 1991.