Monarch Goes on Sick Leave

Norway's monarch is stepping back from duties for at least two weeks. King Harald V, 89, has been admitted to a hospital and placed on medical leave while doctors treat complications linked to a blood disorder, the palace announced Monday. Crown Prince Haakon will serve as regent during his father's absence, EuroNews reports. The palace said that Harald has haemolytic anaemia, which destroys red blood cells prematurely, and that recent cortisone treatment caused fluid retention requiring hospital care. Harald has been on the throne since 1991 and married Queen Sonja in 1968. He was hospitalized in February while vacationing in Spain, per People.

The king's illness adds to a difficult stretch for Norway's royal family: His sister Princess Astrid and Queen Sonja were both hospitalized with heart issues in May, and Crown Princess Mette-Marit—diagnosed in 2018 with a rare lung disease—underwent a lung transplant in June and is off official duties for at least six months. The family has also faced another type of turmoil: Mette-Marit's son, Marius Borg Høiby, was sentenced in June to four years in prison on two counts of rape and other offences.