{"id":335005,"date":"2026-09-01T16:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T16:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/335005\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T16:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T16:42:10","slug":"queen-mette-marit-skips-haakon-viiis-historic-oath-ceremony-after-lung-transplant-setback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/335005\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen Mette-Marit skips Haakon VIII’s historic oath ceremony after lung transplant setback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Norway’s Royal House confirmed Tuesday that Queen Mette-Marit will skip the constitutional oath-taking ceremony before the Storting, the day’s central rite in a monarchy adjusting to King Harald V’s death. In her place will stand three generations of the family she married into: Crown Princess Ingrid<\/a>, who will take her own oath alongside her father; Queen Sonja, Harald’s widow; and Prince Sverre Magnus, Mette-Marit and Haakon’s younger child.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The\u00a9 NTB\/AFP via Getty ImagesThe casket of King Harald V of Norway, draped in Norway’s royal standard and with the royal regalia resting on top on September 1, 2026<\/p>\n

All three will watch the proceedings from the Storting Hall.<\/p>\n

The reason traces back to June, when Mette-Marit<\/a> underwent a lung transplant after years battling pulmonary fibrosis. Recovery from that kind of surgery is rarely a straight line, and Tuesday brought one of its harder stretches.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It is not uncommon for complications to occur after a lung transplant. The Queen has had complications on some occasions since the operation, including today,” said Are Holm, a pulmonologist at Oslo’s National Hospital, in a statement released by the palace. “As a result, the Queen must remain under observation throughout the day. For this reason, the Queen unfortunately will not be able to attend the swearing-in ceremony in Parliament today.”<\/p>\n

It’s a quiet, clinical explanation for a very public absence \u2014 the kind of sentence that reduces a queen’s day to a hospital observation chart, on the same afternoon her husband formally becomes head of state.<\/p>\n

\"The\u00a9 NTB\/AFP via Getty ImagesThe Norwegian royal family react as they arrive at the Palace Square to greet the crowd and look at the flowers and tributes that mourners have laid down for King Harald V
\nA written first for the next queen<\/p>\n

Ingrid<\/a>‘s role in the ceremony carries its own historical weight. The Norwegian constitution requires a new monarch to swear an oral oath before the Storting \u2014 but as the adult heir to the throne, Ingrid is also required to submit her own oath to the constitution in writing, a formality other European heirs have fulfilled only in spoken form.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It marks the first time Norway’s line of succession has included an adult second-in-line prepared to take that step alongside a new monarch.<\/p>\n

Inside the ceremony<\/p>\n

The oath-taking itself follows a fixed, formal choreography. Haakon will be received by the Storting’s vice presidents, with the session presided over by the parliament’s president. He’ll then take his oath and deliver a short address. A tribute speech to the late King Harald<\/a> follows, along with a minute of silence. The president will then address the new king directly, the royal anthem will be sung, and Haakon will depart the parliamentary chamber as Norway’s constitutional monarch, oath fulfilled.<\/p>\n

\"Princess\u00a9 NTB\/AFP via Getty ImagesPrincess Martha-Louise, King Haakon VIII, Queen Mette-Marit and Queen Sonja of Norway at the Palace Square to greet the crowd and look at the flowers and tributes of mourners<\/p>\n

The words themselves are set by law. Article 9 of Norway’s constitution requires a new king to swear an oral oath to the Storting upon a predecessor’s death, and Haakon VIII will speak the traditional formula: “I promise and swear to govern the Kingdom of Norway in accordance with its Constitution and its Laws; so help me God, Almighty and Omniscient.”<\/p>\n

Why the oath matters<\/p>\n

Norway’s monarchy is constitutional, built on a separation of powers, and the Storting oath exists precisely to underline that the king’s authority is bounded by law rather than personal will.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Norwegians, it isn’t ceremonial theater so much as a legally binding act \u2014 one with real constitutional consequences if it were ever withheld or broken. That the country’s incoming queen is watching from a hospital room rather than the chamber floor doesn’t change the oath’s weight; if anything, it’s a reminder of how much personal cost has accompanied this particular transfer of power.<\/p>\n

\"Crown\u00a9 NTB\/AFP via Getty ImagesCrown Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway sits next to her father King Haakon VIII during an oath-taking ceremony for the new king<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Norway’s Royal House confirmed Tuesday that Queen Mette-Marit will skip the constitutional oath-taking ceremony before the Storting, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[113597,96575,9,24,70330,63,122,124,123,4259],"class_list":["post-335005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-crown-prince-haakon","tag-crown-princess-mette-marit","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-norwegian-royals","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-royals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}