In brief
Oslo’s mayor, Anne Lindboe, called off her wedding to Pål Sandvid after the sudden death of King Harald V. The ceremony, planned for Friday, was postponed at the same time the monarch died in the capital. Lindboe paid tribute to the king on Instagram, citing his profound impact on Norway. While no new wedding date has yet been announced, the couple’s engagement was declared five years ago, and they remain engaged to this day.
Image: Oslo mayor Anne Lindboe pictured next to King Harald V in March 2025.
Oslo’s Mayor Anne Lindboe has called off her wedding ceremony because of the death of Norway’s King Harald V.
The wedding with her fiancé Pål Sandvid was planned for Friday but was postponed after the king died early on the same day, according to her political adviser.
“It’s hard to imagine an Oslo and a Norway without you. You didn’t need a crowd to be King,” Lindboe wrote in a tribute to the late king on Instagram.
King Harald reigned for 35 years and died at the national hospital in Oslo where he was being treated for a rare blood condition. His son, King Haakon VIII, became Norway’s new monarch on Friday.
“Even the majority of Norwegians who never met you in person still felt like they knew you,” Mayor Lindboe added in her tribute.
No new date has been set for the wedding yet, her political adviser told the BBC.
After five years together, Lindboe announced the couple’s engagement in June this year.
The late king was a popular and reforming leader in Norway who modernised the monarchy.
He broke with tradition by marrying a commoner, Queen Sonja, and served as a unifying figure at Norway’s most difficult moments.
Harald died a day before their 58th wedding anniversary.
Members of the public have been gathering to lay flowers at a memorial outside the Royal Palace in Oslo.
Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said in a televised memorial address that his country was “united in grief and gratitude” for Harald’s service and that his “legacy lives on.”
Britain’s King Charles III said he was mourning his “dear cousin.” King Harald V was a second cousin of King Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
Haakon VIII is the great‑great‑great grandson of Queen Victoria.
