NEWS ANALYSIS: Weeks of turmoil around Norway’s royal family were reaching a climax during the weekend, with the controversial second wedding of King Harald’s now-middle-aged daughter to a self-professed American shaman. Meanwhile, the king’s wayward step-grandson was allowed to fly off to Italy, even though he’s been charged with assault, vandalism and making threats while under the influence of alcohol and cocaine. The elderly king himself seems determined to keep calm and carry on: Not even the wedding was mentioned on the royals’ official website.
The unprecedented drama swirling around the Norwegian royals has predictably led to debate over the future of the monarchy in Norway. Many of those favouring a republic have been raising concerns for Norway’s reputation abroad, while commentator Kjetil B Alstadheim in the country’s largest newspaper Aftenposten wrote that “of course” Norway could have a president instead of a royal family. He even noted that the country’s popular former prime minister Jens Stoltenberg will soon be available, since he’s finally able to step down as NATO’s secretary general from October 1.
That’s not likely, and royalists like Lene Leinæs in Larvik shot back that Alstadheim should be ashamed of himself, for making fun of the king. Others, though, claim that it’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s 27-year-old son Marius Borg Høiby who’s brought shame upon the royal family, as have the exploits of Princess Martha Louise over the years. She’s arguably been causing trouble since her teenage years, and complaining all along about how hard it is to be a royal even while enjoying all its privileges.
Now Martha Louise is in trouble again: The state health directorate claimed on Thursday, just as her wedding guests were gathering for a four-day extravaganza, that producers of a gin launched in time for the wedding had violated Norway’s strict laws against alcohol promotion. The gin-makers had used her now-disputed “princess” title (calls are rising for her to be stripped of it) and printed a monogram the couple had created in connection with their marriage.
More serious are ongoing charges of how Martha Louise continues to exploit her “princess” title for commercial gain, and has violated terms of an agreement with her father, King Harald, and brother, Crown Prince Haakon, at least half-dozen-times in the past two years. Then the couple sold the photo rights to their wedding for an unknown amount of money to a British and Spanish celebrity magazine, and TV rights to Netflix. That prompted other members of the Norwegian royal family to reserve themselves against any photos taken when the rest of the media are excluded. Another showdown at the palace is expected after the wedding.
Martha Louise’s violations pale, though, in comparison to her step-nephew Høiby’s. It’s now been revealed that Norwegian media have actually protected him over the years, withholding insight various outlets have had into what the press organization’s news publication Journalisten now calls “a lifestyle” with “self-destructivte trendencies” that has “tested limits.” Newspaper Dagbladet recently reported that Høiby had also been fined as long as seven years ago after being caught using cocaine at a summer music festival. Alarming photos and tips about Høiby sent to established media outlets were not pursued. One editor in Oslo went so far as to suggest that Norwegian media have been “kind” to Høiby or, at least, very careful in their coverage of trouble within the royal family.
“It took a criminal case,” wrote Journalisten editor Roger Aarli-Grøndalen, for Høiby’s lifestyle and offenses to finally become national news during the past month. The police charges against him, for attacking his latest girlfriend and trashing her home, also prompted former girlfriends to report that they’d also been victims of violent attacks by Høiby. So-called “influencers” Nora Haukland and Juliane Snekkestad went public on social media after Høiby’s arrest, with accounts of both physical and psychological attacks dating back to 2018. Both have undergone extensive questioning by police, which also expanded charges against Høiby for making threats against his most recent victim.
“Maybe there will be progess in the battle against partner violence now?” mused another Aftenposten columnist, Joacim Lund, this week. He noted how a report conducted for the Justice Ministry last year concluded how extensive such violence is in Norway, and how costly it is for society. “The charges against Marius Borg Høiby cast some light on a type of violence that goes on behind closed doors,” Lund wrote, and as many of 10 percent of all Norwegian women have suffered from it.
Maybe something good can come out of the Høiby case, and his own admissions of having been fired up by cocaine and alcohol. Questions remain, meanwhile, about how much his parents and grandparents knew about his abusive behaviour, and how someone who’s had so many privileges and advantages can end up as an unemployed assailant, still living on his parents’ royal estate.
“In the old days we sent surplus royals to far-away colonies, where they could live out their lust and be the chief over natives,” wrote Stephen J Walton, a professor at the University of Southeast Norway, in newspaper Klassekampen. “Give Marius some practical work far away, while we here at home can work for a republic.” He also noted, perhaps more seriously, that “the Marius case,” as it’s been dubbed, has raised the issue of violence in close relationships and a discussion “about the royal family as an institution.”
Others think that after Martha Louise’s wedding is over, and Marius goes on trial and perhaps serves jail time, the public attention on Marius, Martha Louise and Durek Verrett will fade. None of the three has any formal role in the royal family, and Høiby is not immune from prosecution. He has had a diplomatic passport since he was a child, but it can’t protect him from prosecution abroad either.
It remains unclear how he’s financed his lifestyle, since his tax reports show earnings of only NOK 238,128 in 2022, around USD 24,000 at current exchange rates. His personal fortune, however, grew to NOK 2.1 million (USD 210,000), with no explanation. He has only had a few jobs and dropped out of a local community college in California in 2017 after just six months. Neither Crown Princess Mette-Marit nor Crown Prince Haakon have answered questions about who’s been supporting him or the nature of the drug treatment he’s had, which he referred to himself in a public statement.
Mette-Marit and Haakon were smiling as they left a hotel in Ålesund on Friday, bound for the wedding in Geiranger on Saturday. So were their two grown children Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus, who walked hand-in-hand with his own girlfriend, identified by state broadcaster NRK as Amalie Giæver Macleod. Haakon, during brief meetings with reporters earlier, has acknowledged that the charges against his stepson are “serious” and that “it’s clear this has been a difficult time.”
Apart from that, he said he couldn’t “say anything directly about the case, it’s better that the lawyer answers.” He added this week that he and his wife “want everyone involved to get good help and support, and that they have good people around them.” He also claimed he and Mette-Marit had followed Marius “tightly, known what he’s told us, known about some of his complex problems. I don’t want to go into detail about that.” Høiby’s lawyer isn’t answering questions either, claiming that Høiby still hasn’t taken a position on the charges against him.
Neither King Harald nor Queen Sonja, meanwhile, have said a word about all the trouble, and their silence has been criticized. Nor has Mette-Marit spoken publicly, leaving Haakon to carry the load. He’s been described as both nervous and uncomfortable while dodging most of the Norwegian media’s questions.
Palace officials have mostly remained as silent as the king and queen, claiming the trouble with Høiby is a private matter. “But where’s the line between what’s private and what’s of public interest in this case, and how it’s being handled?” asked Aftenposten’s Alstadheim.
“That’s a good question,” responded the crown prince. “I think I’ll let that be up to others to perhaps define and comment.” He did, however, confirm that regarding his sister and her violations of the agreement not to exploit her title, “we have an agreement that we of course expect to be followed,” adding that “we will speak about that further with them.”
The palace website continued to ignore her wedding heading into the weekend, and it’s back to business as usual from Monday. The crown prince is due to travel to the Paralympics in Paris on Monday and Tuesday, and the king is due to take part in ceremonies for the Kavli Prize on Tuesday. After that they were both meeting the Emir of Qatar in Oslo on Wednesday, and regularly scheduled meetings with government ministers would take place through Friday.
Later on Friday, the king, queen and crown couple will, in fact, be meeting with outgoing NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, whom Alstadheim suggested could take over as president. They’ll also be hosting a luncheon for him at the palace, but their agenda was not disclosed.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
