29 August 2026

By Göran R Buckhorn

The King is dead, long live the King.

Yesterday, 28 August, Norway’s King Harald V died at the age of 89. His son, Haakon, is now King of Norway.

King Harald V was known as a great sportsman and represented his country in sailing at three Olympic Games, in 1964, 1968 and 1972. He won a gold medal in the World Championships in sailing in 1987, a silver medal in 1982 and a bronze in 1988.

In May 2013, Tim Koch wrote an article about kings who rowed (and not rowed). Like his father Olav, Harald rowed when he studied at Balliol College, Oxford. Read Tim’s article here.

So, has King Haakon VIII rowed? He studied at the University of California, Berkeley, where he could have rowed, but did not, and at the University of Oslo, where he could have rowed at the famous Norske Studenters Roklub, which was founded by the university medical students in 1897, but did not.

However, earlier this year, on 25 April, Haakon and his son, Prince Sverre, rowed a reconstructed Viking vessel, the 30-metre Myklebust ship with 24 pairs of oars.

Haakon was also seen “dry-rowing” during the World Cup in Football, but so did the entire Norway.