The most popular king of Europe has been named: he can rule as long as he likes

Norwegians paid tribute to Harald V

As Europe’s longest-reigning monarch, Queen Margrethe II, rode in a gilded carriage through Copenhagen, completing her final New Year’s celebrations before her abdication in January 2024, another northern European country wondered whether King Harald V of Norway should follow a similar path and cede the throne to his son. Crown Prince Haakon. Citizens surveyed believe that this is purely the choice of the monarch.

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark’s New Year’s speech created the word for January – “renunciation”. After 52 years as monarch, the Danish Queen steps down on January 14th. One of the reasons, according to Margrethe, was back surgery, which required extensive rehabilitation, which prevents her from following royal protocol and standing during long official receptions.

At this time, Norway wondered whether King Harald V should follow the same pattern and cede the throne to Crown Prince Haakon. Nettavisen InFact created a poll in which you could choose two polar opinions: King Harald should remain monarch, or he should consider abdicating.

A clear majority believes that the Norwegian king should remain in office until his death or until circumstances force him to abdicate. This answer from the respondents did not come as a surprise to experts.

“This shows that the king is keeping pace with his people,” Tove Taalesen, an expert at the royal house of Nettavisen, comments on the survey results. “We do not have a tradition of abdicating the throne.” She adds that the Norwegian monarchy is different, referring to the Netherlands, which has a tradition of abdication.

She believes that the king demonstrates good performance of his duties, so the people support the ruler.

“King Harald is a safe haven for us, no matter what happens in the world, and he understood this. Here he demonstrates a good understanding of his role. He is either king or dead,” notes Tove Taalesen.

The survey shows that Norwegians are unlikely to be inspired by the news from Denmark. Taalesen believes that Margrethe should not have abdicated the throne.

“With this action, she showed that she has the luxury of choosing the role of queen as if it were any job. Then the monarchy faltered and the royal house weakened. A monarch is who you are, not what you do,” the royal expert explains his point of view. She adds that “Denmark has never had a tradition like this. 900 years have passed since the last time.”

As a reminder, the Danish royal family has not commented on what role Queen Margrethe will play when Crown Prince Frederik takes the throne on January 14, 2024. But TV 2’s royal expert made it clear that these will be “new times for Denmark” – with a king who is very different from what his mother was like.

“At the very least, it will be very interesting to see. He is very different from his mother with his sometimes thoughtless comments,” explains Ole Jørgen Schulsrud-Hansen, referring, among other things, to a comment that the then 19-year-old Crown Prince Frederik made after visiting Hiroshima.