Norway's King Harald V died on Friday, August 28, at Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet, the country's Royal Court announced.

Harald V was 89 years old. He ascended the throne in January 1991 following the death of his father, King Olav V, and remained Europe's oldest reigning monarch for more than three decades. In recent weeks, the king had been undergoing treatment for hemolytic anemia, and on August 17 he was hospitalized at Rikshospitalet, where doctors also battled a bacterial blood infection.

On the evening of August 27, the royal court announced a sharp deterioration in Harald V's condition, calling it extremely serious. Thousands of Norwegians gathered outside the hospital and on Palace Square in Oslo, and members of the royal family spent the entire day and night before his death at his bedside.

During his father's illness, Crown Prince Haakon acted as regent. He is expected to lead the Norwegian monarchy after the death of Harald V.