Norway’s royal family were battling scandals on multiple fronts this week, with charities moving to cut or review ties to the Crown Princess for her past contact with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein while others question her suitability to the role of future queen.
The first controversy is that of the 29-year-old son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Marius Borg Høiby, who earlier this week broke down in tears during his first day of testimony as he denied four counts of rape in an Oslo court.
Høiby sits outside the line of succession as he was born before his mother married Crown Prince Haakon in 2001.
Haakon reaffirmed Høiby’s status as a commoner in a rare statement ahead of the rape trial starting on Tuesday, saying his stepson was “not a member of the Royal House of Norway and is therefore autonomous.”
But his efforts to safeguard the Crown’s reputation were overshadowed when a second controversy erupted, this time implicating his wife and Høiby’s mother, the country’s future queen.
New Epstein files released by the US Justice Department show extensive correspondence between Mette-Marit and the late sex offender – something the princess has since expressed regret over – years after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from a minor.
On Friday, Norway’s royal house said Mette-Marit “strongly disavows Epstein’s abuse and criminal acts” and is sorry for “not having understood early enough what kind of person he was.”
“Some of the content of the messages between Epstein and me does not represent the person I want to be. I also apologize for the situation that I have put the Royal Family in, especially the King and Queen,” Mette-Marit said in a statement.
The controversial email exchanges – which demonstrated a deeper relationship between Epstein and the crown princess than previously known – have provoked rare political intervention, with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre saying on Monday that Mette-Marit demonstrated poor judgment.
“She says she has showed bad judgment. I agree,” Støre told reporters.
Though mirroring Mette-Marit’s own words, his comments speak to the significant public pressure facing the family, royal experts say. “I have not found any example from earlier in Norwegian modern history where a prime minister has criticized a member of the royal family in public like that,” said Alstadheim, the political editor.
In emails sent from “H.K.H. Kronprinsessen” – which translates from Norwegian to “Her Royal Highness The Crown Princess” – to Epstein in 2012, Mette-Marit calls the late sex offender “sweetheart” and “soft hearted.”
In another 2012 email exchange, she calls Epstein “very charming,” while adding: “Is it inappropriate for a mother to suggest two naked women carrying a surfboard for my 15 yr old sons wallpaper ?”
Another conversation in 2012 sees Epstein tell Mette-Marit he is on a “wife hunt,” before adding: “Paris is proving interesting but I prefer scandinavians (sic).” In response, Mette-Marit says Paris is “good for adultery” and “Scandis better wife material.”
Mette-Marit accepted she showed “poor judgment” over her relationship with Epstein but said he was “solely responsible for his actions.”
“I must take responsibility for not having investigated Epstein’s background more thoroughly, and for not realizing sooner what kind of person he was. I deeply regret this, and it is a responsibility I must bear,” she told CNN in a statement.
