Norway's King Harald V transferred to Oslo hospital after getting pacemaker in Malaysia

Norway’s King Harald V transferred to Oslo hospital after getting pacemaker in Malaysia

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) —

King Harald V transferred Monday to an Oslo university hospital, with the palace saying he was hospitalized for medical examinations and his health was improving.

The 87-year-old monarch returned to Norway aboard a medical airplane late Sunday, a day after he was implanted with a pacemaker while on holiday in Malaysia.

Harald arrived at Oslo’s Rikshospital in a vehicle marked “intensive ambulance” under police escort. The palace said he will be on sick leave for two weeks during which his son, Crown Prince Haakon, will assume the monarch’s duties.

Europe’s oldest reigning monarch was hospitalized for an infection during a vacation on the Malaysian resort island of Langkawi.

He underwent surgery at the Sultanah Maliha Hospital on Saturday to implant a temporary pacemaker due to a low heart rate, according to the royal house.

Harald had traveled to Malaysia with his wife, Queen Sonja, reportedly to celebrate his 87th birthday.

A Scandinavian Airlines medical evacuation plane, which took off from Oslo on Thursday, arrived in Langkawi on Friday. The Boeing 737-700 aircraft has previously been used as a flying ambulance.

According to Flightradar24, the same plane departed from Langkawi on Sunday headed for Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, from where it traveled on to Oslo Airport. The palace said that Sonja was traveling with him.

According to Norwegian news agency NTB, which cited information from Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, the king’s transport to Norway cost an estimated 2 million Norwegian kroner ($190,000), which will come from the defense budget.

The Norwegian monarch has had frail health in recent years with numerous hospital stays. Harald, who has been seen using crutches, had an operation to replace a heart valve in October 2020 after being hospitalized with breathing difficulties.

Harald has repeatedly said he has no plans to abdicate, unlike his second cousin Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, who stepped down earlier this year.

Harald’s duties as Norway’s head of state are ceremonial and he holds no political power. He ascended to the throne following the death of his father, King Olav, in 1991.

Vincent Thian, The Associated Press