Haakon VIII and Mette-Marit to receive church blessing in Trondheim on 22 August 2027

Date and setting

Norway's royal household announced on 10 November 2026 that King Haakon VIII and Queen Mette-Marit will receive the church blessing on Sunday, 22 August 2027, in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim. Bishop Olav Fykse Tveit is due to lead the service. Haakon became king when his father, Harald V, died on 28 August 2026, and he took the oath before Parliament on 1 September. According to stern.de, both Haakon and Mette-Marit are 53. The blessing is voluntary, since the constitution has not required a coronation since 1908, so it has no constitutional effect. In a statement cited by NRK, Tveit said the church looks forward to the occasion.

“We look forward to asking for God's blessing on the royal couple and their work for the country and its people.”

Programme in Trondheim and Bergen

The household has planned a weekend of events in Trondheim. The royal couple will host a gala dinner at Stiftsgården, the royal residence in the city since 1906, and the government and the city council are also organising events that weekend. Público describes the weekend as a national celebration built around the blessing. Afterwards the couple will travel to Bergen aboard the royal ship Norge, where a dinner is planned in Håkonshallen, a banquet hall that King Håkon Håkonsson had built more than 760 years ago. The sequence of events is set out in the household's announcement, which gives the Trondheim and Bergen stages a single weekend's structure.

A two-year tour of the country

After the ceremony, the couple will set out on a tour of Norway that the household says starts in summer 2027 and continues into spring 2028. The itinerary has not yet been published. The household says the custom reaches back to the medieval kings. Unlike Olav and Harald, who were blessed in June, the couple has chosen August. Olav V received his blessing on 22 June 1958, and Harald V and Queen Sonja were blessed on 23 June 1991. The household also says the cathedral has hosted seven coronations and two blessings since the 15th century.

The queen's recovery and the tradition

Mette-Marit received a lung transplant in June 2026 after pulmonary fibrosis, diagnosed in 2018, worsened, according to EL PAÍS. NRK reported that she was discharged from Rikshospitalet in July and remains in rehabilitation. Doctors said it would take a year for her condition to become stable, and the palace announced that she will not take official engagements until next summer. The blessing falls close to the couple's 26th wedding anniversary, as La Razón notes, since they married in Oslo Cathedral on 25 August 2001. Haakon VII and Queen Maud were the last royal couple crowned in Nidaros Cathedral, in 1906.