After skiing trip at 87

Pacemaker for Norway’s Queen Sonja

Queen Sonja(Bild: Photographer Oystein Klock)

Queen Sonja of Norway will be fitted with a pacemaker after she went into atrial fibrillation during a skiing trip at the weekend and had to be hospitalized.

According to a press release from the royal family, the procedure will take place on Thursday at the Rikshospitalet in Oslo. The Queen will go to the hospital on Wednesday evening and then stay in hospital for one to two days.

Overnight in the Lillehammer clinic
The 87-year-old was temporarily admitted to hospital in the city of Lillehammer at the weekend because she had suddenly suffered from atrial fibrillation during a ski trip. The royal family reassured the public on Saturday that the wife of King Harald V (87) was in good health under the circumstances. Queen Sonja was discharged early on Sunday morning with a normal heart rhythm.

Queen Sonja of Norway in a portrait photo published by the palace.(Bild: Photographer Oystein Klock)

The most common form of cardiac arrhythmia
Atrial fibrillation is the most common form of cardiac arrhythmia. The heart usually beats too quickly and irregularly. If it remains untreated, it can lead to strokes, for example.

Atrial fibrillation should not be confused with arrhythmia in the ventricles. These are often more serious.

King Harald also already has a pacemaker. He fell ill with an infection during a vacation trip to Malaysia last year and was taken to hospital there. After the flight back home, he was fitted with a permanent pacemaker.