Norway’s royal family faced renewed scrutiny this week as charities reviewed or cut ties with Crown Princess Mette-Marit over her past contact with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, while critics questioned her suitability as Norway’s future queen.
The Crown Princess issued a “profound apology” to Norwegians after it emerged she had exchanged messages with Epstein for three years.
"I also apologise for the situation in which I have placed the Royal House, especially the King and Queen," she said in a palace statement.
Hundreds of emails exchanged between Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Jeffrey Epstein between 2011 and 2014 were revealed in files released by the US Justice Department last week.
Some messages discussed plans to meet in person and showed that the crown princess spent four days at Epstein’s Palm Beach home in Florida while he was reportedly not present.
Emails sent in 2012 from “H K H Kronprinsessen” — Norwegian for “Her Royal Highness The Crown Princess”, show Mette-Marit referring to Jeffrey Epstein as “sweetheart” and “soft hearted,” as cited by CNN.
In another exchange the same year, she described Epstein as “very charming,” and wrote: “Is it inappropriate for a mother to suggest two naked women carrying a surfboard for my 15-year-old sons wallpaper?”
A separate 2012 conversation records Epstein saying he was on a “wife hunt,” adding: “Paris is proving interesting but I prefer scandinavians (sic).” Mette-Marit replied that Paris was “good for adultery” and that “Scandis better wife material.”
The tone of the correspondence surprised many in Norway, and the messages indicate she was aware Epstein had served a jail term in 2008. In an October 2011 email, she wrote: “Googled u after last email… Agree didn’t look too good.”
The palace initially issued a statement last week in which the crown princess expressed regret and acknowledged “poor judgment”, but it faced pressure to clarify the nature of her relationship with Epstein.
In a further statement on Friday, the palace said she was “deeply saddened” that she had not realised earlier what kind of person Epstein was. It added that she wanted to provide a more detailed explanation but was in a “very difficult situation” and needed time to “gather herself.”
Crown Princess’s son denies rape charges
Another controversy surrounding Norway’s royal family centres on Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s 29-year-old son, Marius Borg Høiby, who broke down in tears during his first day of testimony this week as he denied four counts of rape in an Oslo court.
Høiby is not in the line of succession, having been born before Mette-Marit married Crown Prince Haakon in 2001.
Ahead of the trial beginning on Tuesday, Crown Prince Haakon issued a rare statement reaffirming Høiby’s status as a private citizen, saying his stepson was “not a member of the Royal House of Norway and is therefore autonomous.”
