GUT PUNCH

Royal Family Rocked by Death Just Days After King’s Funeral

Another member of the king’s immediate family has died.

Princess Astrid of Norway died on Friday at the age of 94, the Royal Palace said in a statement. Astrid was the elder sister of Norway’s long-serving King Harald, who died in August after reigning for more than 35 years. His funeral was held on Wednesday. He was 89 years old. King Haakon VIII, his second-born child and only son, succeeded him. “Throughout her ​long ​life, ⁠Princess Astrid represented the Royal ​House in ​a ⁠warm and dutiful manner,” the new king said in the statement. The princess will be buried at state expense, and flags will be flown at half-mast across Norway, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said. Astrid was the last surviving child of King Olav V, who reigned from 1957 to 1991. She took on the role of first lady at the age of 22 in 1954 when her mother died, and held it until her brother married in 1968. The statement did not provide a cause of death, but Astrid’s health had deteriorated recently, and in March she was hospitalized with pneumonia.