King Harald is 87, and Astrid was 91. That’s a lot of decades of shared Christmases, awkward family photos, and probably a few heated arguments about who gets the last slice of traditional Norwegian kransekake cake. Think about it: they saw each other through marriages, births, scandals, and the sheer weirdness of being born into a centuries-old monarchy. Their bond was the kind that doesn’t need words—just a glance across a crowded state dinner to say, “Remember when we threw that rubber frog at the prime minister?”
That’s the thing about long sibling relationships. The petty stuff from when you were kids turns into the funniest inside jokes when you’re old. You forget who stole whose toy car. You remember the time you both fell out of a tree and blamed it on a ghost. That’s the treasure Harald lost—the keeper of those memories, the only person who can verify that “yes, that really happened.”
Princess Astrid, Mrs. Ferner | Unofficial Royalty
Grief That Feels Like a Slow Weekend
Mourning a sibling at any age is like a dull ache that shows up uninvited. It’s the empty chair at family gatherings, the phone call you can’t make anymore. King Harald, being the stoic Norwegian he is, probably won’t break down in public. But you can bet that in a quiet moment, he’ll stare at an old photo and just smile. That’s the weird beauty of grief—it mixes the pain with the laughter.
If you’ve ever lost a sibling, you know the weirdest part isn’t the crying. It’s the sudden urge to text them a meme you found, before remembering they’re not there to laugh at it. That’s the loss Harald is navigating now, except his memes are likely about royal yacht mishaps or a dog that outran a guard.
Why was Princess Astrid hospitalized? Royal House of Norway shares
