Norway's New King Opens Parliament, With His Daughter Beside Him

King Haakon VIII opened Norway's parliament for the first time as king on October 2 in Oslo.

He performed the solemn opening of the 171st session of the Storting, Norway's single-chamber national legislature. For American readers, the Storting is Norway's equivalent of Congress, except with one house instead of two. Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra, his elder child and next in line to the throne, attended with him and stood to her father's left during the ceremony.

It was the king's first time presiding over the opening as sovereign after the death of his father, King Harald V, in August. Harald died on August 28. His state funeral was held September 9. He had been king since January 17, 1991, a reign of more than 35 years.

The calendar gave the day added weight. Harald first opened the Storting on October 2, 1991. Haakon's opening of the 171st session came 35 years to the day later. Norway's Royal Court had listed the 2026 opening for October 2 at 1 p.m., with His Majesty the King to perform the solemn opening, a duty the monarch carries out each October.

Queen Mette-Marit, Haakon's wife, was not present. The palace said she missed the ceremony because of a respiratory infection while she continues to recover from a lung transplant earlier in the summer, according to Town & Country. Her absence left the king and the crown princess to represent the royal family in the chamber.

Both wore black for the occasion. The dark clothing observed the royal family's official mourning period for Harald. That period is set to conclude on October 9, one month after the September 9 state funeral.

Haakon had already taken a separate constitutional step a month earlier. On September 1 at 1 p.m., he swore the oath to Norway's Constitution inside the Storting, the pledge a new monarch makes before parliament. The Storting had announced the oath ceremony in advance for that Tuesday afternoon. Reuters reported that he took the oath following his father's death.

In his first address to the nation as sovereign, Haakon remembered Harald in plain family terms. He called his late father "such a good dad," Reuters reported.

What makes this stand out is simple and human. A son took up his father's yearly duty for the first time, with his own daughter beside him learning it. The black clothes and the October date told the rest of the story without words.