King Haakon VIII of Norway paid homage to his late father as “such a good dad” in his first address to the nation since becoming sovereign, his voice briefly filling with emotion when evoking his widowed mother Queen Sonja.
King Harald, who emerged from the shadow of his own well-loved, extrovert father to become a reformer during more than three decades on the throne, died on Friday at the age of 89.
His son Haakon, dressed in a black suit, white shirt and black tie, praised Harald as a warm family man in a recorded televised speech at the palace.
“My dear father, thank you for being such a good dad for Martha and I,” he said, referring to his sister, Princess Martha Louise.
“I am going to miss him. I am going to miss his laughter. I am going to miss his good-natured way to meet people and situations,” he continued, sitting behind a desk, with a portrait of a smiling Harald to his left.
He noted that Saturday should have been the celebration of the 58th wedding anniversary of Harald and Queen Sonja, who survives him.
