King Haakon VIII of Norway drove his wife, Queen Mette-Marit, to hospital in Oslo on Tuesday, hours after she missed his swearing-in ceremony due to health complications.
Norwegian media photographs showed the 53-year-old queen, who is recovering from a lung transplant, getting out of a car driven by the king at Oslo’s National Hospital.
According to the NTB news agency, the king was later seen leaving the hospital, but the queen was not.
Asked by French news agency AFP, the Royal Palace referred to a statement issued earlier in the day, which said the queen would not attend her husband’s swearing-in before Parliament because of “complications.”
Queen Mette-Marit, who has an incurable lung disease, underwent a lung transplant on 17 June.
“It is not uncommon for complications to occur after a lung transplant," palace doctor Are Holm said in the statement.The queen has experienced complications on several occasions since the operation, including today.”
“She must therefore remain under observation throughout the day,” he added.
The palace had announced only the day before that she would attend the ceremony.
On Monday, she was seen during the transport of the coffin of King Harald V, Haakon’s father, who died on Friday at the age of 89.
She also appeared with the royal family outside the palace as they viewed flowers left by thousands of mourners after the king’s death.
Haakon VIII, also 53, automatically became king on Friday on Harald’s death.
He took the oath before Parliament early on Tuesday afternoon, in a symbolic constitutional step marking the limits placed on the monarch’s powers.
