View source for Olav V

==Reign==
[[File:Olav V Holmenkollbakken OB.A8587.jpg|thumb|224x224px|King Olav V at [[Holmenkollen National Arena|Holmenkollen]] in 1975]]

Haakon was injured in an accident in 1955; his son Olav served as regent until his death.<ref name="britannica">{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Olav-V#ref59809|title=Olav V king of Norway|website=Britannica|access-date=13 April 2021 |quote=}}</ref> Haakon died at the [[Royal Palace, Oslo|Royal Palace]] in Oslo on 21 September 1957. He was 85 years old. After his death, Olav succeeded him as Olav V.

Olav reigned as a "People's King," and became extremely popular, despite the fact that he had no [[queen consort]] (his wife, [[Princess Märtha of Sweden|Märtha of Sweden]], died in 1954). He liked to drive his own cars and would drive in the public lane even though, as king, he was allowed to drive in bus lanes. When driving was restricted during the [[1973 energy crisis]], King Olav wanted to lead by example even though he would have been well within his rights to drive. While going on a skiing trip, he dressed up in his skiing outfit and boarded the [[Holmenkollbanen]] [[suburban railway]] carrying his skis on his shoulder.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nrk.no/underholdning/store_norske/4356194.html |website= NRK |language=no |access-date=24 November 2006 |title=Kong Olav 5 |first1=Ragnhild |last1=Sleire Øyen |date=December 30, 2004 }}</ref> When later asked how he dared to go out in public without bodyguards, he replied that "he had 4 million bodyguards", the population of Norway at the time.

For his athletic ability and role as King, Olav earned the [[Holmenkollen medal]] in 1968, the [[Medal for Outstanding Civic Achievement]] in 1970 and was made [[Name of the Year]] in 1975. He had a strong interest in military matters and took his role as titular Commander-in-Chief very seriously. As well as his ceremonial roles in the Norwegian Army, he also served as [[Colonel-in-Chief]] of the [[Green Howards|Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Yorkshire Regiment)]], the British regiment named for his grandmother [[Alexandra of Denmark|Queen Alexandra]].

The King represented Norway extensively abroad during his reign, conducting [[List of state visits made by Olav V of Norway|state visits]] to both neighbouring countries and more distant destinations such as [[Ethiopia]] and [[Iran]]. King Olav V opened the [[14th World Scout Jamboree]] in July 1975 in the presence of 17,259 Scouts from 94 countries.

Although the constitution nominally vested Olav with executive power, he was not responsible for exercising it. In practice, his role was almost entirely ceremonial and representative.<ref name="britannica"/> This not only followed practices dating from the definitive establishment of parliamentary rule in Norway in 1884, but also precedent set by his father. His acts were not valid without the countersignature of a minister–usually the [[Prime Minister of Norway|Prime Minister]]–who then became politically responsible for the act in question. While he had the right to appoint the government, in practice it was impossible for him to appoint a government solely of his choosing or keep it in office against the will of the [[Storting]]. Nonetheless, like his father before him, he commanded great [[moral authority]] as a symbol of the nation's unity.