As if Norway’s royal family and staff don’t have enough other problems, another one came along this week: A major hot water leak at the Royal Palace in Oslo.
The palace itself reported that the leak in the early morning hours of Tuesday began on the third floor of the palace and sent hot water running down to the floor below. The leak set off fire alarms in the middle of the night, which in turn summoned fire trucks, police, officials from the state agency in charge of public property (Statsbygg) and the royal guards.
Palace officials said the situation “was quickly brought under control” and emergency crews withdrew, but building experts remained to monitor the situation throughout the night. The leak was blamed on the “loosening of a connection to a hot water pipe.”
Preliminary evaluations indicate that damage was “limited,” with “no major damage” to items of historic value. Palace staff and officials from Statsbygg were continuing their damage assessment in cooperation with “relevant professionals.”
The leak and nighttime disruption didn’t force any changes in the official programs for King Harald V and Queen Sonja, both of whom are 88 years old. They’ve been dealing with a series of royal scandals over the past few years, most recently regarding their step-grandson Marius Borg Høiby’s criminal trial in the Oslo County Court and revelations of his mother Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s extensive correspondence with the late US billionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The king and queen, meanwhile, have recently returned from the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina. King Harald went on to formally open the “Total Defense Year 2026” in Oslo on Wednesday and then welcomed the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to an audience at the palace before he and Queen Sonja hosted a palace luncheon for Abbas on Wednesday. Water systems were clearly back in operation at the palace that dates from the mid-1800s.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.newsinenglish.no ’
