{"id":586290,"date":"2026-08-28T17:27:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T14:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/?p=586290"},"modified":"2026-08-28T17:27:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T14:27:40","slug":"bishop-macarie-condolences-king-harald-v-norway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/bishop-macarie-condolences-king-harald-v-norway\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishop Macarie mourns King Harald V, offers prayers for Norwegian people"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Romanian Orthodox Bishop Macarie of Northern Europe offered his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100076083453125\/posts\/1086220290590743\/?app=fbl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">condolences<\/a> to the Norwegian Royal Family on Friday after the repose of King Harald V.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Romanian hierarch expressed his sorrow upon learning the news: \u201cIt was with profound sadness that I received the news of His Majesty\u2019s passing from this life.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cAt this time of mourning, we extend our sincere condolences to the Royal Family and the entire Norwegian people, assuring them of our unceasing prayers,\u201d the Bishop of Northern Europe added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Bishop Macarie concluded with a prayer for the late sovereign and those mourning him: \u201cMay God grant His Majesty\u2019s soul eternal rest in peace and bring comfort to the grieving Norwegian people.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>King Harald V<\/h2>\n<p>Born on 21 February 1937 at the royal residence of Skaugum, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.royalcourt.no\/the-royal-house-of-norway\/his-majesty-the-king\/the-biography-of-king-harald\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Harald<\/a> was the son of King Olav V and Crown Princess M\u00e4rtha. During the Second World War, the Norwegian Royal Family left the country following the German invasion. Harald, then three years old, travelled with his mother and sisters first to Sweden, then to the United States.<\/p>\n<p>After returning to Norway in 1945, he studied in Oslo and at the Norwegian Military Academy before continuing his education at Balliol College, Oxford. In 1968, he married Sonja Haraldsen, with whom he had two children, Princess M\u00e4rtha Louise and Crown Prince Haakon.<\/p>\n<p>He became King on 17 January 1991 after his father, Olav V, died. The King and Queen were consecrated later that year at Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim. The Royal Court confirms that the ceremony took place on 23 June 1991.<\/p>\n<p>King Harald V died peacefully at Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, at 6:35 a.m. on Friday, 28 August. He was 89.<\/p>\n<p>King Harald V was Europe\u2019s oldest reigning monarch at the time of his death and had served as Norway\u2019s head of state for more than 35 years.<\/p>\n<p>Photo: Royal Court Norway<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Romanian Orthodox Bishop Macarie of Northern Europe offered his condolences to the Norwegian Royal Family on Friday after the repose of King Harald V. The Romanian hierarch expressed his sorrow upon learning the news: \u201cIt was with profound sadness that I received the news of His Majesty\u2019s passing from this life.\u201d \u201cAt this time of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":586288,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22922],"tags":[33781,5477,15333,38147,38148],"class_list":["post-586290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society","tag-bishop-macarie-of-northern-europe","tag-condolences","tag-diocese-of-northern-europe","tag-king-harald-v-death","tag-norwegian-royal-family"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}