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Queen Sonja of Norway bid farewell to her husband of 57 years today at Oslo Cathedral, where the state funeral of King Harald V was held before a congregation of royal families, world leaders, and dignitaries gathered from across Europe and beyond. It was the first Norwegian state funeral since that of King Olav V in 1991, the service at which Sonja herself had stood beside Harald after he became king.
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Queen Sonja in the car with Queen Mette-Marit.
Dressed in a long black dress with a pearl choker necklace and a thin black mourning veil, Queen Sonja arrived separately by car from the funeral procession from the Royal Palace to Oslo Cathedral with her daughter-in-law, Queen Mette-Marit. Their son, King Haakon VIII, led the cortège, which included Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus, as well as royals from all over Europe, reflecting the warmth and personal bonds King Harald had cultivated across a lifetime.
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Members of the clergy of the Church of Norway greet Queen Sonja and King Haakon at the cathedral.
King Harald died on August 28 at age 89 after being hospitalized with hemolytic anemia, a blood disease, and a subsequent bacterial blood infection. His death prompted an outpouring of grief across Norway, with thousands of people gathering outside the Royal Palace in Oslo in the days that followed to leave flowers, candles, letters, and photographs in his memory.
In the days before the funeral, King Harald’s coffin rested in the chapel at the Royal Palace, where more than 46,000 members of the public queued up to pay their last respects. Several wreaths with white flowers and embroidered ribbons were also placed on either side of the coffin by his family members. The most affecting of them was left by Queen Sonja, whose ribbon bore her personal monogram alongside a message in Norwegian that translates in English as “thank you for a good life.” Sonja visited his coffin while it was lying in state on Tuesday.
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Queen Sonja is seen wearing the Royal Family Order of King Harald V of Norway, a special badge given by the monarch to female members of the Norwegian royal family.
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Queen Sonja places a rose on the coffin of her late husband.
Queen Sonja, 89, and King Harald had been married for 57 years, but their road to the wedding altar was anything but straightforward. The two first met at a dinner party in Oslo in 1959, when Harald was still a cadet at the Norwegian Military Academy and Sonja was a university student. Because she was a commoner and the daughter of a clothing merchant, and not of royal or noble status, their relationship had to be kept secret for years.
After several years of dating, Harald, then the crown prince, ultimately told his father King Olav V that if he could not marry Sonja, he would not marry at all. The ultimatum effectively threatened the continuation of the Norwegian monarchy because he was the sole male heir to the throne. Without Harald, the future of the succession would be thrown into chaos. King Olav eventually relented in 1968, and the couple married at Oslo Cathedral on August 29 of that year, the same cathedral where Norway said goodbye to Harald on Wednesday.
Rachel King (she/her) is a news writer at Town & Country. Before joining T&C, she spent nearly a decade as an editor at Fortune. Her work covering travel and lifestyle has appeared in Forbes, Observer, Robb Report, Cruise Critic, and Cool Hunting, among others. Originally from San Francisco, she lives in New York with her wife, their daughter, and a precocious labradoodle. Follow her on Instagram at @rk.passport.