King Harald V was admitted to the national hospital on Tuesday March 15th for planned heart surgery to replace a clogged valve later in the week, the palace said.
Doctors had been monitoring the valve since at least 1991, and on March 17th announced that it was time to go ahead with what they called a routine operation on the popular 68-year-old figurehead monarch.
The Norwegian Royal Household’s statement said the operation would probably take place on Friday, and that the king would need about two months to recover.
Crown Prince Haakon will act in his father’s place during that period.
According to the king’s medical team, the operation is done about 1,000 times a year in Norway. They said that while there are always risks with a heart operation, the king would be in greater danger if they did nothing.
The king was not in pain or acutely ill, but the palace said he had asked the media to leave him in peace during his stay at the National Hospital in Oslo, and during his recovery.
In December 2003, Harald was diagnosed with bladder cancer and the organ was removed. His medical team said all traces of the cancer had been removed.
