For years, Haakon Magnus of Norway had an unusual relationship with his birthright. He was a prince, heir to the throne, but as a child he didn't like to talk about it much. In his 2023 autobiography, he recalls that his royal status made him feel anxious at school.
Today, August 28, 2026, he can no longer avoid the role he has been preparing for almost his entire life.
After the death of King Harald V at the age of 89, Haakon, 53, inherited the Norwegian throne. He becomes King Haakon VIII, taking a name that directly links him to Haakon VII, the monarch who became a symbol of Norwegian resistance during the Nazi occupation.
But the new king is, in many ways, a product of a very different Norway.
Haakon Magnus was born on 20 July 1973, the son of Harald and Sonja. He grew up in the Skaugum estate near Oslo with his sister, Märtha Louise. His parents tried to make their childhood as similar as possible to that of other Norwegian children, and Haakon also attended public school.
When his grandfather, King Olav V, died on 17 January 1991 and Harald took the throne, Haakon became Crown Prince. He was only 17 years old. A few months later, after turning 18, he attended the Council of State for the first time.
Rather than limiting himself to the traditional education of a prince, Haakon built a background more reminiscent of the profile of a modern diplomat. He graduated from the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy in Bergen in 1995, served in the Royal Navy, and then studied political science at the University of California, Berkeley, where he graduated in 1999.
He later completed a master's degree in development studies at the London School of Economics, with a focus on international trade and Africa. He also worked at the Norwegian mission to the United Nations in New York and completed the diplomatic training program of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has also completed special forces training and parachute training.
But the moment that truly made Haakon famous beyond royal protocol had nothing to do with the military or diplomacy. It had to do with a woman.
The Prince and the Single Mother
In 1999, Haakon met Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby. She did not come from the aristocracy. She was an ordinary Norwegian woman, the single mother of a son, Marius Borg Høiby, and had a past that at the time produced one of the biggest controversies surrounding the royal family.
Haakon did not retreat.
The couple married on 25 August 2001 at Oslo Cathedral. Marius became part of their family, and Haakon and Mette-Marit later had two children: Princess Ingrid Alexandra, born in 2004, and Prince Sverre Magnus, born a year later.
At the time, Haakon's choice was seen by some as a threat to the monarchy. Over the years, it became part of his image: a prince less tied to traditional court conventions and closer to the changes that Norwegian society itself was undergoing.
Haakon has also cultivated a significantly more informal profile than that of traditional monarchs. He is passionate about surfing, skiing, outdoor activities and music. In public activity, he has focused on youth, social inclusion, development and international affairs.
A crown that comes at the most difficult moment
But Haakon doesn't just inherit his father's crown and popularity. He also inherits a royal family that is going through one of the most difficult periods in its modern history.
Mette-Marit has come under intense public pressure over her former relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. The family has also been hit by the criminal case of Marius Borg Høiby, her son and Haakon's stepson. The new king's sister, Princess Märtha Louise, has also been the subject of controversy for years over her activities and marriage to American Durek Verrett.
This makes the moment of taking the throne very different from that of 1991, when Harald V succeeded Olav V.
Haakon has had one important advantage, however: in recent years he has acted as regent several times when his father's health prevented the king from fulfilling his constitutional duties. So Norwegians have already seen him fulfill a part of the role that now belongs to him in full.
Ingrid Alexandra, the woman who could become queen
With Haakon's accession to the throne, the line of succession also changes.
His 22-year-old daughter, Ingrid Alexandra, is now the heir apparent to the throne. If she one day inherits it, Norway will have a queen at the head of state, the result of changes to the rules of succession that established equality between men and women.
And here the story takes an interesting turn.
Haakon is named after Haakon VII, the king who in 1905 was elected to lead the newly independent Norway and who chose the motto "Alt for Norge" - "Everything for Norway".
More than a century later, Haakon VIII takes over a much more modern monarchy, much more informal, but also much more exposed to the private life of the family he represents.
His challenge, therefore, will not be simply to replace an immensely popular father. It will be to convince Norwegians that an inherited institution can remain relevant in a society that no longer automatically inherits respect for it.
And for the prince who once felt anxious when he was reminded at school that he was royal, there is no longer any place to hide from the crown.
From today, the crown is his.
