At noon, the Norwegian Armed Forces honoured Harald with a funeral salute of 21 shots from Akershus Fortress in central Oslo.

Later on Friday, a procession left the chapel at Rikshospitalet, where Harald died, and headed to the palace.

Norway has declared a period of national mourning until the day of his funeral, which has not yet been announced. Flags will be flown at half-mast, while his portrait will be displayed, candles lit and moments of silence held at professional events.

All non work-related social events will be cancelled or postponed. Oslo Mayor Anne Lindboe, who was due to get married on Friday, even postponed her wedding.

King Haakon, who is Harald’s younger child, is now the monarch and his wife Mette-Marit queen.

He is due to take an oath before the Norwegian parliament on Tuesday and will later participate in a consecration service – a stripped-down version of a corronation, which Norway no longer has.

His daughter, the 22-year-old Ingrid Alexandra, who joined her father to meet ministers at the palace on Friday, is next in line to the throne as crown princess after the rules of succession changed in 1990 to allow firstborn women to inherit the crown.