King Harald V of Norway is hospitalized in Malaysia, as the Norwegian royal house announced this Tuesday in a statement. “The king fell ill during his vacation in Malaysia and is hospitalized there with an infection. The king is receiving good follow-up by Malaysian and Norwegian medical staff,” the royal house wrote on its website without informing where in Malaysia. the monarch is located or who travels with him.
Last week it emerged that King Harald had gone on a private trip abroad to celebrate his birthday but the destination was not reported at the time. The king, who celebrated his 87th birthday on February 21, made the trip just weeks after recovering from a respiratory infection in late February. The monarch was on sick leave several times last year, and, due to these health problems and after the abdication of Queen Margaret II of Denmark, he wanted to reiterate that his intention is to remain on the throne until the death of she.
Crown Prince Haakon Magnus is the regent when his father is ill or absent. Mette-Marit’s husband from Norway took over from her father on February 26 and he was scheduled to be in office until March 1 due to scheduling issues. Harald V’s first official act in Norway after his vacation was scheduled for March 8, although it is now unknown how many days the king’s leave will last.
It is common for the Norwegian monarch to take a private trip around this time, since his birthday coincides with the Norwegian winter holidays. Even so, it is surprising that the sovereign chose such a remote destination due to his near convalescence due to an infection plus the various problems he suffered in 2023. Last fall he was on sick leave due to Covid-19, an illness that he also suffered in March of the same year. In May of the same year he was admitted to the Rikshospitalet hospital for a few days due to an infection that needed treatment. Before that, in 2020, he underwent surgery to place a new heart valve and in 2021 he underwent surgery on his right knee.
Among the next events on the agenda of the Norwegian royal family is an expected and controversial wedding. After four years of dating and several failed wedding plans, Marta Luisa from Norway and shaman Durek Verret will get married on August 31 at the historic Union Hotel in Geiranger, Norway. King Harald V declared a few months ago in an interview broadcast on Norwegian television that “it will be a very nice marriage. “We are looking forward to it.” It has been a long road to the altar full of Verret’s fantastic statements about alternative medicine. In 2022, the princess resigned from her official duties after losing popularity for trying to use her title in the United States for commercial purposes with her future husband, when they tried to patent the title of “The Pincesa and the Shaman.”
Malaysia, the country where the Norwegian king is hospitalized, is the world’s only elective federal parliamentary monarchy. Every five years a new king is elected from one of the nine sultanates that make up the country. Last year they elected the new Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar and he replaced Sultan Abdullah of Pahang on January 31 this year.
