Norway’s Queen Sonja in hospital after breathing problems

Queen Sonja of Norway reacts as she visits the “A Journey Within” contemporary art exhibition by Norwegian artist Anna-Eva Bergman at the Musee d’Art Moderne de Paris museum in Paris, on March 29, 2023. FILE PHOTO/Agence France-Presse

OSLO, Norway — Queen Sonja of Norway, 87, was admitted to an Oslo hospital late Monday following breathing difficulties, the royal palace announced.

“The Queen was transported by medical helicopter from the royal chalet in Sikkilsdalen, where the royal couple were spending the Easter holidays,” the palace said in a statement.

Since 1924, the Norwegian royal family has spent most of its Easter holidays at the chalet, according to the NTB news agency.

READ: Norway’s king has pacemaker implanted in Malaysia after falling ill

Queen Sonja was briefly hospitalized in January after experiencing cardiac fibrillation, a rapid and irregular heartbeat. She then had a pacemaker installed, a procedure the palace described as “successful.”

Her husband King Harald is Europe’s oldest reigning monarch at 87. He also had a pacemaker inserted last March after contracting an infection during a private vacation in Malaysia.