Crown Prince Haakon was born on 20 July 1973 at the National Hospital in Oslo, the son of then Crown Prince Harald and Crown Princess Sonja of Norway. He has an older sister, Princess Märtha Louise, who was born in 1971.

Haakon Magnus became Crown Prince in 1991 when his grandfather, King Olav V, died and his father ascended the throne as King Harald. In 1990, the Storting (Norwegian parliament) passed a law establishing absolute primogeniture, meaning that the eldest child is first in line to the throne, regardless of gender. However, this was not done retroactively (as in Sweden).

Haakon met Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby in the mid-1990s, but it wasn’t until the late 1990s that the couple began a relationship. They announced their engagement on 1 December 2000 and were married on 25 August 2001.

Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit have two children together. Princess Ingrid Alexandra was born in 2004 and is second in line to the Norwegian throne, while Prince Sverre Magnus was born in 2005. The Crown Prince is also stepfather to Marius, Mette-Marit’s eldest son from a previous relationship.