Norway’s King Harald leaves hospital after having pacemaker fitted
14 March 2024, 11:54
The 87-year-old was ‘doing well’ and would be on sick leave until April 8, the royal household said.
Europe’s oldest monarch, King Harald V of Norway, has been discharged from an Oslo hospital where he received a permanent pacemaker earlier this week, the palace has said.
The 87-year-old was “doing well” and would be on sick leave until April 8, the royal household said in a brief statement. His 50-year-old son, Crown Prince Haakon, was assuming the king’s duties.
The monarch underwent the pacemaker implant procedure at Oslo’s university hospital on Tuesday.
Harald fell ill last month during a private holiday with his wife Queen Sonja on the Malaysian resort island of Langkawi. He underwent surgery there and received a temporary pacemaker due to a low heart rate.
Harald returned to Norway onboard a medical plane and was immediately transferred to an Oslo hospital.
The king’s doctor, Bjorn Bendz, said this week that he had contracted an undetermined infection in Malaysia.
The monarch has been in frail health in recent years with numerous hospital stays. He had an operation to replace a heart valve in October 2020 after being hospitalised with breathing difficulties.
Harald has said repeatedly that he has no plans to abdicate, unlike his second cousin Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, who stepped down earlier this year.
Harald’s duties as Norway’s head of state are ceremonial and he holds no political power. He ascended to the throne following the death of his father, King Olav, in 1991.
