“I promise and swear to govern the Kingdom of Norway in accordance with its Constitution and its laws, so help me Almighty and Omniscient God.” In uniform and with decorations, accompanied by his daughter, Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra, his son, Prince Sverre Magnus, and his mother, Queen Dowager Sonja, Haakon VIII has sworn the Norwegian Constitution at the Storting (Parliament) as the new king and head of state. Queen Mette-Marit was not present at the solemn ceremony, as she remains under observation on medical advice due to a complication in the recovery process from her lung transplant.
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After the ceremony, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, wearing a long black ceremonial dress and the sash of the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olaf, which her grandfather Harald V granted her upon reaching adulthood, signed her oath document in a parliamentary office.
On the platform of the Parliament presidency, under a canopy, a throne and a smaller chair were placed, occupied by Haakon VIII and the Crown Princess.
A quarter of an hour before the start of the ceremony in Parliament, scheduled for 1 p.m., the royal family, except Queen Mette-Marit, left the royal palace. Haakon VIII was alone in the convertible car, a historic Lincoln Continental, with which he crossed, followed by another vehicle carrying his children and his mother, Karl Johans Gate, the main street of Oslo that connects the palace with the city center and where the Parliament is located. Military personnel from the Royal Guard and the Armed Forces were deployed along the avenue, and the procession was followed by thousands of citizens who applauded the passage of the new king, who made the same journey that his father Harald V did in 1991, and previously, in 1958, his grandfather Olav V, and in 1905, Haakon VII, the first monarch of modern Norway. Olav, widowed since 1954, also made the journey alone; while Harald did so accompanied by Sonja and Haakon VII by Queen Maud.
Upon arrival at the Parliament hall, the royal family was greeted by representatives of the different parliamentary groups. The president, Masud Gharahkhani, a Norwegian born in Tehran, awaited him in the chamber, where the 169 parliamentarians were already seated, 87 belonging to the center-left bloc and 82 to the center-right bloc.
It was Gharahkhani who administered the oath to Haakon VIII, positioned on a platform next to his daughter Ingrid Alexandra, who also swore, though in writing, her commitment as heir. The new king, as required by the Constitution, proclaimed: “I promise and swear to govern the Kingdom of Norway in accordance with its Constitution and its laws, with the help of Almighty and Omniscient God.”
The speech by the President of Parliament, in which he recalled the democratic principles to which the parliamentary monarchy is subject, was interrupted to observe a minute of silence in memory of King Harald. When it resumed, Gharahkhani, who proclaimed “the will of the people is also the will of the king,” praised the figure of King Harald and, after another minute of silence and the national anthem, which interestingly has the same chords as the British one, a sober and emotional ceremony marking the beginning of Haakon VIII’s reign was concluded.
After leaving the parliamentary building, the king again headed to the royal palace, where the lying-in-state chapel of King Harald was opened, and citizens began to arrive to say goodbye to the former Norwegian monarch until September 8, the day before the solemn State funeral scheduled for September 9.
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