HM King Haakon VII (Prince Carl of Denmark)

[Prinsara]

Since King Harald has had a lot of health issues in recent years, I have thought about the health of the two monarchs before him, so let's therefore write a bit about the health of one of them here, i.e. King Haakon VII:

Was generally healthy throughout his life and continued to walk fast until he was in his early 80s, although he did use a walking stick.
However, this changed fast in July 1955 when he had a fall and broke his femur at Bygdø Royal Farm. He was almost 83 at the time.
After that, he never managed to walk again and remained in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, which was said to have made him depressed.

King Haakon never appeared in public again, and CP Olav was regent until the King died at the age of 85 in September 1957.

(The above information in this post is taken from what I have read in various places, such as books and print newspapers, which are only available in the digital newspaper archives, which are not possible to copy links from. However, you can read about King Haakon's health in his English Wikipedia-article.)

It’s amazing to watch him walk around in his 80s, like when Elizabeth and Philip came to visit. He moves like someone 25 years younger.

I believe he also suffered from depression after being widowed (and possibly to some extent afterwards, as when he made the statement that it should have been him, a useless old man, who died, instead of Crown Princess Märtha — but that’s also grief).