Norway’s Queen Sonja leaves hospital after breathing problems

Norway's Queen Sonja and Bjorn Skulason on their way to a gala dinner at the Palace in connection with the state visit of the Icelandic presidential couple, in Oslo, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (Fredrik Varfjell/NTB via AP)

Queen Sonja of Norway was discharged from an Oslo hospital on Tuesday after being admitted the previous evening for breathing difficulties, the royal palace said.

“Her Majesty the Queen has been discharged from Oslo University Hospital,” the palace said.

“The Queen was admitted due to shortness of breath. Examinations show that the situation has normalised,” it said, adding that she would be on sick leave for the rest of the week.

Sonja, 87, had been transported by medical helicopter from the royal chalet in Sikkilsdalen, where she and King Harald -- Europe’s oldest reigning monarch at 88 -- were spending the Easter holidays.

Since 1924, the Norwegian royal family has spent most of its Easter holidays at the chalet, according to the NTB news agency.

Queen Sonja was briefly hospitalised in January after experiencing cardiac fibrillation, a rapid and irregular heartbeat. She then had a pacemaker installed, a procedure the palace described as “successful.”

King Harald also had a pacemaker inserted in March 2024 after contracting an infection during a private vacation in Malaysia.