I learned of King Harald’s passing with real sadness. On behalf of Operation HOPE, I send our condolences to Queen Sonja, to King Haakon VIII and Queen Mette-Marit, and to the people of Norway.

King Harald reigned for 35 years. He was a boy when the Nazis took his country, and his family fled to America. He came home and spent the rest of his life in service to the nation that had been taken from him. After the attacks of July 2011, when Norway had every reason to close in on itself, he told his people that the belief in freedom is stronger than fear. Norway believed him. That is what a leader does.

I have known his son for twenty years. In 2006, Crown Prince Haakon, Pekka Himanen and I founded Global Dignity on a simple idea: every person has the right to lead a dignified life. That idea did not come from nowhere. Haakon learned it at home. You could see the father in the son. The humility and the sense that a crown is a job and the job is the people.

Norway lost a king and gained one on the same day. King Haakon VIII takes the throne having spent his adult life preparing for it, and I have no doubt he will carry his father’s example forward. Operation HOPE stands with him, with his family, and with Norway in this season of mourning.

Rest well, Your Majesty. You served.