Norway’s King Harald V, Europe’s oldest reigning monarch at 89, has been admitted to the National Hospital in Oslo, with the Royal House confirming he will be on sick leave for two weeks while his son, Crown Prince Haakon, takes over as regent.

The Royal House said in a statement that the King was admitted to Rikshospitalet on the afternoon of August 17 following a medical examination. According to the palace, Harald has been undergoing treatment with cortisone in recent weeks for hemolytic anaemia, a blood disorder, and that treatment has led to fluid accumulation in his body serious enough to require hospital care.

The Royal House added that it would provide further details in due course on how the King’s condition would affect the palace’s official program going forward.

This is not Harald’s first hospital visit this month. Norwegian royal watchers noted he had already been to hospital roughly ten days earlier for what the palace described at the time as a planned checkup and follow-up appointment with his doctor, during which he drove himself to the facility in his own car.

The latest admission suggests that follow-up visit uncovered the underlying blood condition now being treated.

As with previous health scares, Crown Prince Haakon has stepped in as regent for the duration of his father’s sick leave, taking over the King’s constitutional duties, including meetings with the Norwegian government, until Harald is cleared to resume his official role.

The latest hospitalisation adds to what has been a difficult stretch for the King’s health in 2026. He turned 89 in February and, just days after his birthday, was hospitalised in Tenerife, Spain, while on a private holiday with Queen Sonja, where he was treated for an infection and dehydration at the Hospiten Sur hospital before flying home.

That episode followed a more serious scare in 2024, when a vacation in Malaysia turned into a medical emergency after his heart rate dropped dangerously low, resulting in a temporary pacemaker being fitted on the island before he was flown back to Norway for surgeons to implant a permanent device at Rikshospitalet. He has also previously undergone heart valve surgery in 2020 and surgery for bladder cancer in 2003.

Despite the repeated health setbacks, Harald, who has reigned since 1991, has consistently ruled out any prospect of abdicating, unlike his Danish counterpart Margrethe II, insisting the oath he swore to Norway’s parliament is one he intends to hold for life. Crown Prince Haakon, 52, remains next in line to the throne and has now stepped into the regent’s role on multiple occasions in recent years as his father’s age-related health issues have mounted.

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