Oslo mayor calls off wedding ceremony after death of Norway's king

Oslo's Mayor Anne Lindboe has called off her wedding ceremony because of the death of King Harald V of Norway.

The wedding with her fiancé Pål Sandvid was planned to take place on Friday but was postponed after the king died earlier the same day, her political adviser confirmed to the BBC.

"It's hard to imagine an Oslo and a Norway without you. You didn't need a crown to be king," Lindboe wrote in a tribute to the late monarch on Instagram.

Harald reigned for 35 years and died at the national hospital in Norway's capital, where he was being treated for a rare blood condition. His son, King Haakon VIII, ascended the throne on Friday.

"Even the majority of Norwegians who never met you in person still felt like they knew you," Lindboe added in her tribute.

No new date has been set for the wedding yet, Lindboe's political adviser said.

After five years together, Lindboe announced the couple's engagement in June this year.

The late king was a popular and reforming leader in Norway who modernised the monarchy.

He broke with tradition by marrying a commoner, Queen Sonja, and served as a unifying figure during Norway's most difficult moments.

Harald died a day before their 58th wedding anniversary.

Members of the public have been gathering to lay flowers at a memorial outside the Royal Palace in Oslo.

Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said in a televised memorial address that his country was "united in grief and gratitude" for Harald's service and that his "legacy lives on".

The UK's King Charles III said he was mourning his "dear cousin". King Harald V was a second cousin of the King's mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

Haakon VIII is the great-great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria.