The China Mail - Norway, in mourning, enters a new era under Haakon VIII

A national period of mourning was declared in the Scandinavian kingdom following the king's death on Friday at 6:35 am (0435 GMT), at aged 89.

Hugging and laying flowers, thousands of people gathered in the capital, Oslo, on Friday to pay their respects.

Haakon, 53, takes over a monarchy hailed for its modernity and modesty but which has been beset by a string of recent scandals.

"An era has ended. A new one begins. The king is dead. Long live the king," Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said in a speech shortly after meeting the new monarch.

"We will remember King Harald for his love for his people, for his humour and warmth, and for his unwavering faith in us."

Well-wishers lined the streets to watch a motorcade bring Harald's casket from Oslo University Hospital to the royal palace on Friday evening.

Haakon arrived at the palace earlier with his 22-year-old daughter Ingrid Alexandra -- the new crown princess -- to formally inform the government of his father's death.

In a statement, Haakon thanked "the government and Norwegian people for their support and sympathy for the Royal Family at this time".

Norway's parliament said the new monarch would take an oath of allegiance in its main chamber on Tuesday.

The period of national mourning will last until Harald's funeral, the date of which is yet to be set.

Haakon is not expected to be crowned -- a practice abolished in 1908.

But like his father and grandfather before him, he could choose to have his reign blessed during a ceremony at Trondheim Cathedral, where Norwegian kings were crowned between 1814 and 1906.

- 'Like a grandfather' -

Harald, who was Europe's oldest reigning monarch, had been in hospital in Oslo since August 17, suffering from haemolytic anaemia, a condition caused by an abnormally rapid destruction of red blood cells that leads to fatigue and shortness of breath.

Store said Harald, who ascended to the throne in 1991, was "a king of his time and for his time".

He said Harald accompanied Norway through decades of enormous change during which the country "grew richer, we became more numerous, and we became more diverse".

Thousands of Norwegians massed outside the palace in Oslo throughout the day and even as heavy rains started pouring down in the evening.

They laid down mountains of flowers, cards and red, white and blue national flags, and many hugged and held each other.

"He has meant a great deal, he has been a unifying king, he has been a king of the people," Line Stousland, 49, told AFP, before placing a bouquet.

She added that he had been "like a grandfather to the whole nation".

Harald was widely seen as the embodiment of an open and tolerant Norway.

Many of those AFP spoke with pointed in particular to Harald's speech after neo-Nazi Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in 2011 -- Norway's worst massacre since World War II.

Harald "was someone who always seemed to find the words that brought us together and gave us a sense of security," Caroline Vagle, a reporter for magazine Se og Hor, told AFP.

Tributes also poured in from abroad, from European monarchies as well as from World leaders, including Donald Trump, who hailed the memory of "a strong, proud, and greatly respected man".

- Turbulent year -

Harald faced mounting health problems in his final years, forcing him to scale back his official schedule.

But he ruled out abdicating, arguing that he took a lifelong oath before the Norwegian parliament.

The past year has been a turbulent one for the Norwegian royal family.

Harald's wife Queen Sonja, also 89, was briefly admitted to hospital in May due to heart problems.

Haakon's wife Mette-Marit is under scrutiny for her ties to the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In June, Mette-Marit's son from a relationship prior to her marriage to Haakon, Marius Borg Hoiby, was sentenced to four years in prison for two rapes.

Suffering herself from a serious lung disease, Mette-Marit, 53, underwent a lung transplant in July.

Q.Yam--ThChM