After the death of King Harald V on Friday, Norway has a new king.

Crown Prince Haakon, 53, will succeed his father. While the role of king in Norway has become mostly a ceremonial and symbolic position, the monarchy still plays a public role in Norwegian society, representing the country at home and abroad.

As heir to the throne, Haakon has spent a life carrying out royal duties, and he increasingly took on a more central role as his father’s health deteriorated.

Haakon was born in Oslo on July 20, 1973, to Harald and Queen Sonja. He has an older sister, Princess Martha Louise. After attending public and private schools in Oslo, he followed family tradition and enrolled in the Norwegian Armed Forces.

After graduating from the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy, Haakon bucked the tradition of enrolling at Oxford University in England, like his father and grandfather had, and studied political science at the University of California, Berkeley. He then went to the London School of Economics, where he graduated in 2003 with a master’s degree in development studies, with a focus on international trade and African studies.

Like his father, he wedded a “commoner” — a person with no royal ancestor — but his 2001 marriage to Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby was not without controversy. She was divorced and had a young child from her first marriage, and the tabloids soon dug up details of her party-girl past. But the family stood by the couple, and Mette-Marit was accepted by the public.

In recent years however, revelations over her friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein soured public perception. Her eldest son, Marius Borg Hoiby, has also had run-ins with the law. In June this year, an Oslo court convicted Mr. Hoiby of rape, domestic violence and other charges, and sentenced him to four years in prison.

Princess Mette-Marit underwent a lung transplant this year.

Haakon and Mette-Marit have two children together, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus.

Although Haakon has an older sister, Norway’s succession law dictated that the heir must be male. That law changed in 1990, and Haakon’s eldest daughter, Ingrid Alexandra, is the next in line to the throne.