Queen Sonja of Norway, 87, is scheduled to undergo surgery after being hospitalized last weekend. The Norwegian Queen Consort will have a pacemaker implanted on Thursday, as confirmed by the palace in a statement.
She will be admitted to Oslo’s Rikshospitalet on Wednesday evening ahead of the procedure and is expected to stay in the hospital for one to two days.
This follows a brief hospitalization at Lillehammer Hospital last Saturday, after Queen Sonja experienced an episode related to her ongoing heart condition, atrial fibrillation, while on a ski trip.
The surgery is set to take place just one day before her husband, King Harald, marks his 34th year on the throne on January 17.
Despite being 87, Queen Sonja has maintained good health and continues to enjoy her love for hiking into her ninth decade.
Following pacemaker surgery, patients are typically advised to avoid strenuous activities for four to six weeks, although most activities and sports can be resumed afterward. Caution is recommended for contact sports and high-energy activities.
King Harald, also 87, has faced health challenges in recent years, including the fitting of his own pacemaker in March following an illness while on vacation in Malaysia. He has been hospitalized twice for infections and treated for a fever in 2023, three years after undergoing surgery to replace a heart valve. In 2003, King Harald also had surgery for bladder cancer.
Queen Sonja was last seen publicly on January 9, when she met with representatives from the MiRa Center at the palace. King Harald attended the Sønsteby Prize award ceremony on January 10. The couple, married since 1968, has two children: Crown Prince Haakon, 51, the heir to the Norwegian throne, and Princess Märtha Louise, 53.
