King Harald has fallen ill during his holiday in Malaysia and is hospitalized there.
According to the royal house, the monarch is hospitalized due to an infection.
NRK has been in contact several times on Tuesday with the public hospital Sultanah Malihai in Langkawi, where the Malaysian news website Astro Awani have claimed that the Norwegian king is hospitalized.
Employees have neither confirmed nor denied this.
The king will be admitted to this hospital in Malaysia.
Photo: Hospital Sultanah Malihah / The hospital’s website
To TV 2 confirms a hospital on the Langkawi island group that the king is admitted there, and an employee at Hospital Sultanah Malihai in Langkawi confirms to Aftenposten Tuesday evening that the king is a patient there.
The employee also states that security measures have been put in place at the hospital, but that she cannot provide more information.
Private travel
King Harald receives good follow-up from both Malaysian and Norwegian medical personnel, the royal house writes in a press release.
King Harald arrives at the government’s lunch for Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan at the Representationsboligen on 14 February.
Photo: Cornelius Poppe / NTB
The king is on a private trip in Malaysia, and NRK has confirmed that Queen Sonja is on the holiday.
The Crown Prince couple are going to Finse to visit the Red Cross course in rescue management on Wednesday. The castle states that they are not making any changes to their programme.
Good recovery wishes
According to King Harald’s official calendar, his next planned work assignment is on Friday 8 March, when he will lead the Cabinet at the Palace.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and King Harald during the men’s soccer cup final in 2023 between Bodø/Glimt and Molde at Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo.
Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) wishes the king a speedy recovery.
– It was sad to hear that King Harald is hospitalized in Malaysia. I would like to wish King Harald a speedy recovery and hope he is well again soon, says Støre to NTB.
– I wish King Harald a very good recovery and hope he gets home safely to Norway, says Conservative leader Erna Solberg in a comment.
On holiday
The Palace has not disclosed exactly how long the king has been travelling.
When King Harald – Europe’s oldest monarch – turned 87 on Wednesday last week, however, it was the state flag that went to the top at the Castle. It is a flag that is used when both the king and the crown prince regent are out of the country.
The king also had a blank calendar for the whole of last week, and has also for a while been listed with an empty calendar this week and parts of next week.
Crown Prince Haakon is listed in the official program as Crown Prince Regent, a kind of “royal substitute”, until Wednesday 6 March.
This means that the king was not originally expected back in Norway before 7 March, and there are currently no changes to the program either.
His first official assignment is therefore scheduled for the following day, Friday 8 March, when he will lead the cabinet – one of the king’s most important tasks.
Princess Astrid, Mrs Ferner (from left), Queen Sonja, Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan, King Harald, Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Crown Prince Haakon in the Bird Room at the Palace, in connection with President Hassan’s state visit to Norway on 13 February this year.
Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB
King Harald has gone on winter holidays abroad several times in recent years.
He has several times had his personal doctor, the king’s GP, with him on major official trips.
Reported sick earlier
King Harald has been sick with an infection several times in the past.
At the end of January, the king was on sick leave due to a respiratory infection, but was back at work after a few days.
King Harald, Queen Sonja and Emma Tallulah Behn are welcomed by church host Stein Erik von Hirsch and text reader Inger Merete Magnus before the Christmas service in Holmenkollen Chapel in Oslo on Christmas Day 2023.
Photo: Frederik Ringnes / NTB
In May last year, the king was admitted to Rikshospitalet, where he was also treated for an infection. King Harald then had to leave a state visit from Italy to the Crown Prince Regent, but was declared fit just in time to take his place on the Palace Balcony on 17 May.
When the royal couple were asked in June how they had experienced the king’s period of illness, the king himself said about the hospitalizations:
– What I can say is that it was boring.
Johannes Thingnes Bø greets King Harald after the victory in the men’s joint start in biathlon in Holmenkollen in March 2023.
Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB
Also in 2022, the king had several periods of health problems.
He last underwent surgery in 2021, then for a damaged tendon above his right knee. The operation was successful, and the king was subsequently declared to be in good shape.
In 2020, King Harald replaced a heart valve at Rikshospitalet, after struggling with heavy breathing.
Also in 2005, he also underwent an operation on the heart valve between the heart and the main artery. At that time, the aortic valve was replaced with an artificial heart valve.
Busy working year
Just before King Harald went abroad on holiday this February, he received Tanzania’s president on a state visit to Norway.
King Harald also had a busy work program last year.
During 2023, the king carried out 431 work assignments. This is shown by NRK’s review of the king’s official calendar, as well as figures from the Palace.