Oslo (AFP) - Norway observed a nationwide minute of silence on Wednesday at the funeral of King Harald V, a modern and unifying figure whose end of reign was tarnished by scandals.

His son and heir King Haakon VIII, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, Britain’s Prince William and other foreign dignitaries stood in silence in the halls of Oslo’s Lutheran cathedral in memory of the late monarch, who died on August 28 aged 89.

The funeral procession had left the royal palace an hour earlier, the king’s casket draped in Norway’s red royal banner and topped with white flowers.

Carried on an artillery carriage, the casket was transported along the city’s main avenue, followed by the dignitaries on foot as thousands of people lined the street to pay their respects.

“He was king for practically my whole life. I thought it was normal to come today, since I could,” 37-year-old municipal employee Anders Aanerud told AFP.

Only Harald’s widow, 89-year-old Queen Sonja, and the new Queen Mette-Marit, who underwent a lung transplant in June, followed the procession in a car.

Marius Borg Hoiby, Mette-Marit’s son from a previous relationship who is under house arrest pending the appeal of a rape and assault conviction, had been granted permission to attend the funeral.

- Sarcophagus -

At the end of the religious service, four F-35 fighter jets will fly over the cathedral in a “missing man” formation, as the casket is taken to the Akershus Castle chapel.

There it will be lowered into the crypt of the royal mausoleum, next to Harald’s parents and grandparents.

He will be laid to rest in a $2 million sarcophagus whose design remains secret.

Once the burial is completed, flags across the country, which were lowered to half-mast after Harald’s death, will once again be raised and church bells will ring for an hour.

Some 3,000 police and 3,500 soldiers have been deployed for the event, with exceptional airspace restrictions imposed over much of the eastern part of the country.

Until his death, Harald, who ascended the throne in 1991, was the oldest reigning monarch in Europe.

Despite mounting health woes in his later years, he had always ruled out abdicating, and was extremely popular among his fellow Norwegians.

“He struck a balance between being stately and being down-to-earth,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said in his eulogy.

“He made Norway greater. He spoke of a ‘we’ in Norway where everyone is there for each other.”

Seen as embodying an open and tolerant Norway, Harald made a deep impression by celebrating diversity in a 2016 speech marking the 25th anniversary of his reign.

“Norwegians are girls who love girls, boys who love boys, and girls and boys who love each other,” he said, adding: “Norwegians believe in God, Allah, the Universe and nothing.”

- Reinvigorated monarchy -

More than 46,000 Norwegians filed past the king’s casket in the past week, some waiting in line for hours.

The square in front of the palace has been covered with flowers, drawings and candles as Norwegians honoured the man they dubbed “the grandfather of the nation”.

“He was like the beloved grandfather of a family, who embraced all his children and grandchildren, regardless of their appearance or beliefs,” student Arthur Fosheim told AFP.

“He truly embodied that spirit of inclusion and a multicultural Norway,” he added.

Almost three out of four Norwegians, 72 percent, said they support the monarchy, up by eight percentage points from a previous survey in May, in an opinion poll conducted after the king’s death and published last week.

Support had dropped to its lowest level in February, to 60 percent.

At the time, the royal family was embroiled in a series of scandals.

Mette-Marit in particular was under heavy criticism for her past ties to the late convicted American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and her son’s legal troubles.

While Haakon VIII, 53, is very popular, opinions on the new queen, also 53, remain deeply divided.