World News

A day after receiving a pacemaker, Norway's King leaves Malaysia on a medical plane

On Sunday, an aircraft believed to be transporting King Harald of Norway departed from Malaysia. It was the day following the implantation of the pacemaker in his heart.

While on a private vacation on the northern resort island of Langkawi, the oldest reigning king of Europe was hospitalised in Malaysia for treatment of an infection, as announced by the royal family on Tuesday.

Due to his bradycardia, he was hospitalised at Sultanah Maliha Hospital on Saturday for the insertion of a temporary pacemaker. The royal house revealed this information.

Harald allegedly marked his 87th birthday by journeying to Malaysia with his wife, Queen Sonja, as reported by Norwegian media sources.

A medical evacuation aircraft operated by Scandinavian Airlines landed in Langkawi on Friday. The aircraft departed from Oslo on Thursday. The Boeing 737-700 aircraft has previously been used as an air ambulance.

Flightradar24 said that the aircraft departed from Langkawi on Sunday with the plan to land in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, and then proceed to Norway.

The elderly Norwegian king has been hospitalised several times in recent years for medical treatment because of his delicate health. He has also been hospitalised many times.

Harald, who was seen needing crutches, had heart valve replacement surgery in October 2020. The surgery was conducted following his admission to the hospital due to respiratory distress.

Unlike his second cousin Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, who resigned earlier this year, Harald has repeatedly maintained that he has no plans to abdicate his position. While his father remains in the hospital, Crown Prince Haakon, the heir apparent to the Norwegian throne, has taken on his father's duties.

As Norway's head of state, Harald is solely responsible for ceremonial responsibilities and lacks political authority. Following his father King Olav's death in 1991, he assumed the throne and became the reigning monarch.

He became the first king born in the country since the 14th century. As a prince, he married a commoner and gained popularity in his egalitarian nation by leading the mourning for the victims of mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik in 2011. He was the first monarch born in the kingdom in centuries.