His Majesty King Harald V of Norway died today in Oslo. The 89 year-old monarch had reigned for 35 years.

The great-grandson of the King Haakon VII, the stalwart King during the Nazi invasion of Norway in the second World War, young Prince Harald fled into exile with his family at the tender age of 3.

In 1968, he married Sonja Haraldsen, his long time sweetheart and a commoner. Though his father initially resisted the match, the two were eventually allowed to marry. They had two children – firstly, Prince Martha Louise, and secondly the late Crown Prince Haakon, who now ascends the throne as King Haakon VIII.

Upon the death of his father, King Olav V, in 1991, Harald ascended the throne becoming King Harald V of Norway.

With his death, Norway now has a female heir to the throne for the first time in its history – Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra, who would become the nation’s first Queen Regnant.