Norway King Fitted With Pacemaker: Palace

Oslo, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Mar, 2024) Norway's 87-year-old ailing King Harald had a permanent pacemaker implanted on Tuesday in Oslo in a procedure the royal palace termed "successful".

Europe's oldest reigning monarch, King Harald had to be repatriated to Norway on a medical transport flight on March 3 after contracting an infection while on holiday on the Malaysian island of Langkawi.

Upon his return, he was hospitalised at Oslo University Hospital, and the palace said at the time he would receive a permanent pacemaker to replace the temporary one he received while in Malaysia.

"His Majesty The King received this morning a permanent pacemaker," the palace said on Tuesday.

"The procedure was successful, and His Majesty is doing well," it said, adding that he would "remain in hospital for a few more days."

Harald needs crutches to get around and has suffered a series of health issues in recent years, but has dismissed speculation that he would follow the lead of his 83-year-old distant cousin Queen Margrethe II in Denmark and abdicate.

Crown Prince Haakon, 50, has stepped in as regent in the king's absence.