UK Armed Forces pay tribute to late King of Norway at his funeral in Oslo
Royal Marines and British Army personnel attended the funeral of King Harald V of Norway on Wednesday.
Royal Marines and British Army personnel attended the funeral of King Harald V of Norway on Wednesday.
20 Royal Marines provided a marching detachment lining the route of the funeral procession in Oslo. Personnel from 1st Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment, also attended as part of the UK’s tribute.
The late King, who died on 28 August, maintained a dedicated 45-year relationship with the British Armed Forces as an Honorary Colonel in the UK Royal Marines and an Honorary General in the British Army. He met with UK Commando Forces leadership every year and maintained a sharp, active interest in the Corps.
King Harald V’s father, King Olav V, was appointed an Honorary Admiral in the Royal Navy in 1958. In 1961, he and his son, the then Crown Prince Harald, were hosted onboard the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Hermes during her regional engagement visit to Oslo.
The then Crown Prince Harald was appointed Honorary Colonel of the Royal Marines in March 1981 by Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the first such appointment involving a member of a foreign Royal household in the Corps’ history. He paid his first visit to the Royal Marines that October, touring CTCRM Lympstone and RM Bickleigh, where he watched a cliff assault by 40 Commando and a demonstration of jungle warfare training by 42 Commando.
His connection with the Royal Marines continued throughout his reign. In 2018, he visited Royal Marines from X Company, 45 Commando, at Vaernes Camp in Norway during Exercise Trident Juncture, NATO’s largest collective defence exercise in a decade, where he was briefed on the Corps’ role in the exercise and joined celebrations marking the Royal Marines’ 354th birthday.