King Harald V of Norway is in an extremely serious condition, with his health having deteriorated sharply overnight. It’s the gravest turn in a year filled with controversies for the Norwegian monarchy. Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon have canceled all engagements to remain at his bedside at Oslo University Hospital, where the 89-year-old monarch has been admitted since August 17.
The past year has been eventful for the Norwegian royal house. Marius Borg Høiby, Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s eldest son, was convicted in June and sentenced to four years in prison — a scandal that has shaken the monarchy to its foundations. That was followed by Mette-Marit’s double lung transplant, and now by the king’s hospitalization. As it was recently reported, another member of the family has quietly gone through a major operation of his own: Durek Verrett, the husband of Princess Märtha Louise, has received a kidney transplant.
A King’s Health Takes a Turn
Harald was admitted to the hospital after side effects from the cortisone treatment he has been receiving for hemolytic anemia triggered dangerous fluid retention in his body. He had already been managing a bacterial infection in his blood, and doctors initially described his condition as having stabilized.
That changed Thursday, when the palace announced a serious deterioration, saying only that “His Majesty the King’s health condition is extremely serious.”
Crown Prince Haakon has been serving as regent throughout his father’s hospitalization, and the family has been gathered at his bedside as the country waits for news.
© Getty ImagesA Second Transplant in the Same Hospital
While the king’s condition has dominated headlines, another quieter medical drama has been unfolding. Durek Verrett — the husband of Princess Märtha Louise, King Harald’s daughter — has successfully undergone a kidney transplant at Rikshospitalet after years on the waiting list. The couple’s spokesperson, Carina Scheele, confirmed the news publicly.
“First and foremost, we feel an enormous sense of gratitude toward the person who was willing to become a donor. It is difficult to put into words what such a gift means. The new kidney has given Durek a second chance, and that is something we will never take for granted,” the couple said in a joint statement.
Verrett singled out the staff who cared for him in the lead-up to the surgery. “I have received treatment in many places around the world, but I have never experienced the warmth, compassion and humanity that I have encountered among healthcare professionals in Norway in general, and at Drammen Hospital in particular. The way the doctors and nurses have cared for me, both as a patient and as a person, has deeply touched me. They have been my ‘little angels’ through a very challenging time.”
© HEIKO JUNGEA Health Battle Nearly Fifteen Years in the Making
For Verrett, this transplant closes out a medical ordeal that stretches back over a decade. He has spoken openly about a kidney condition that appears to run in his family. In an appearance on the podcast “Moments I Made,” Verrett said he inherited high blood pressure from his father and grandfather but never took it seriously — a decision that eventually cost him his kidney function and triggered a cardiac arrest that left him clinically dead for four minutes.
Doctors revived him, but the episode caused a brain injury that put him in a wheelchair for two years and left him dependent on dialysis for an even longer period of time.
In 2012, he launched a crowdfunding campaign to help cover the cost of a kidney transplant, raising roughly €22,000; his sister ultimately became his donor. Years later, his kidney health declined once more, and he was placed back on the transplant list. Märtha Louise herself offered to donate a kidney, but she wasn’t a match, leaving the couple to wait for a compatible organ to become available.
Verrett was undergoing dialysis three times a week, a routine he described as its own kind of confinement during the Netflix documentary “Rebel Royals: An Unlikely Love Story“: “You sit in a chair for four hours. You don’t have a choice. You’re more vulnerable to heart attacks — I’m starting to get pains in my arm and in my chest.”
© NetflixTwo Anniversaries Overshadowed
Verrett’s transplant lands right around his and Märtha Louise’s second wedding anniversary. The couple married on August 31, 2024, at Hotell Union in Geiranger, the same venue where King Harald and Queen Sonja are said to have marked their own silver wedding anniversary.
This week also marks 25 years since Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s wedding — a milestone that’s been overshadowed by the king’s hospitalization and Mette-Marit’s own recovery.
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