They don’t make kings like that anymore. With the death of King Harald V of Norway, the European monarchies enter a new chapter, and with them, so too does the transatlantic relationship.
It is true that Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein was born in February 1945, a few months before the end of World War II, but he would probably admit that he has no memory of the conflict. And, even though he no longer sits on the throne, the former King Juan Carlos I of Spain was born in 1938 and also belongs to the same generation as the late Norwegian monarch. Harald V was born on February 21, 1937, and, at barely three years old, he came to the United States in 1940 with his mother, Crown Princess Märtha, and his sisters, Ragnhild and Astrid, the three as refugee children fleeing the war in Europe.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt welcomed the Norwegian royal family, who settled at what is today famed Pook’s Hill, in Bethesda, Maryland. During a visit by President Bill Clinton to Oslo in 1999, Harald V recalled in his toast the time he had spent in the United States:
“Personally, I feel a special affinity for the United States that goes back to my childhood. After the occupation of Norway in 1940, my mother accepted an invitation from President Roosevelt to shelter in the United States. One of the things I remember quite clearly is standing right behind President Roosevelt when he took the oath for his fourth term.”
Harald V did not choose a life in the spotlight, but he stood up to the moment when his time came to occupy that place. As an American, my first and only truly meaningful memory of him in public life goes back to August 2011, when he delivered a speech at the ceremony held a month after the terrorist attacks that had shaken Norway that July and caused the deaths of 77 people, many of them young and underage. In that address, Harald V spoke words that were especially beautiful and moving and worth remembering:
“I remain convinced that faith in freedom is stronger than fear. I continue to believe in an open Norwegian democracy and society. I keep believing in our ability to live freely and securely in our own country.”
It was a true lesson in courage in a moment of uncertainty. He knew his people were suffering and, when emotion briefly broke his voice earlier in the speech, he made it clear that he too felt that pain.
You can teach someone to pronounce a speech, but you cannot teach them to have a heart. You can teach protocol, but not leadership. In that intervention, Harald V showed the world what it meant to lead with humanity.
“You can teach someone to pronounce a speech, but you cannot teach them to have a heart. You can teach protocol, but not leadership”
Among the current reigning monarchs of Europe, only four have lived in the United States for any length of time. Harald V’s son, King Haakon VIII, graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. There is also King Frederik X of Denmark, who studied for a time at Harvard University; Prince Albert II of Monaco, who studied at Amherst College in Massachusetts; and King Felipe VI of Spain, who earned a master’s degree from Georgetown University. It is worth noting that Felipe VI is the only living monarch who, like Harald V, has resided specifically in Washington, D.C.
The witness now passes to a new generation of European royal family members, with their own life experiences on both sides of the Atlantic. May this new generation continue to carry out its role as he did: with humanity, humility, and trust in their peoples.
Here, in the United States, I doubt that Harald V’s death will receive as much attention as Queen Elizabeth II’s. But I hope it serves to remind us of the good friends we have across the Atlantic and the luck of having such friendships.
The king is dead. Long live the king.
