The 87-year-old monarch was photographed for a new portrait alongside his family, comprising his wife, Queen Sonja, aged 86, and their son Crown Prince Haakon and his wife, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, both aged 50.
Also present are Haakon and Mette-Marit’s children, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, aged 20, and Prince Sverre Magnus, aged 18, standing beside their parents and grandparents.
“The royal family wishes everyone a really good Easter,” the Instagram caption read.
The Norwegian royal family is spending the holiday at Bygdø Royal Farm, which is the king’s summer residence located on the northwestern part of the Bygdøy peninsula in Oslo. Harald became ill with an infection during his private holiday in Malaysia, a confirmation made by the palace on 27 February.
He was flown back to Norway and underwent a procedure to have a permanent pacemaker fitted on 12 March, being discharged from Rikshospitalet in Oslo two days later.
King Harald is currently on sick leave until 8 April as he continues to recover from the procedure, with Crown Prince Haakon serving as regent until then. Harald has faced health challenges in recent years, including being placed on sick leave in January due to a respiratory infection.
He was hospitalized for infections in May and December of the previous year and received treatment for a fever last August. Additionally, in October 2020, he underwent an operation to replace a heart valve.
However, unlike Queen Margrethe of Denmark, who abdicated after 52 years into her reign on 14 January, King Harald has ruled out making the same choice.
During a visit to Faktisk.np, a non-profit fact-checking website, in January, Harald stated: “I stand by what I have said all along. I have taken an oath to the Storting, [parliament] and it lasts for life.”
Harald ascended to the throne following his father, King Olav V, on 17 January 1991. He and his wife, Queen Sonja, who have been married since 1968, also share a daughter, Princess Martha Louise.
Princess Martha Louise chose to scale back her royal duties in 2022 to concentrate on her alternative medicine venture with her fiancé, Durek Verrett, a self-proclaimed shaman. Martha Louise is set to wed Durek on 31 August 2024 at Hotel Union in Geiranger, Norway.
