It’s been seven years since Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit confirmed on national television that she’d been diagnosed with chronic pulmonary fibrosis. It’s a disease that causes scarring of the lungs and can be fatal, prompting doctors at the national hospital to now suggest that she may need to undergo a lung transplant.
The Royal Palace in Oslo announced on Friday that comprehensive medical tests this autumn showed “a clear negative development” of the now-52-year-old Crown Princess’ health. She went public with her lung disease back in 2018, and now the palace reports that she is suffering from shortness of breath, reduced intake of oxygen and resulting fatigue. It also reported that her condition has become so serious that doctors at Norway’s national hospital (Rikshospitalet) “have begun preparations” for a possible lung transplant.
Some international experts set life expectancy for those suffering from pulmonary fibrosis at less than five years from diagnosis, indicating the crown princess has already beaten some serious odds. The disease, characterized by shortness of breath, a dry cough and fatigue, can lead to respiratory failure and lung cancer. There is no cure, with few treatment options.
“We’re getting closer to the time when a lung transplant must be carried out, and we’re making the necessary preparations so that it can be possible when the time comes,” said Dr Are Martin Holm, a medical professor and chief of the lung division at the hospital. He specializes in respiratory diseases and is leading the team of medical professionals in charge of Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s care.
She’s been on a reduced schedule of public appearances and other royal tasks for the past few years. She nonetheless managed to travel in August to Australia, when her daughter was starting university studies in Sydney, and has carried out several royal duties since.
The palace reported Friday that she has taken a turn for the worse, after spending a month this fall undergoing what the palace had described as “lung rehabilitation” and testing. The past year has also been a year of unusual stress for Norway’s entire royal family following the series of arrests of the crown princess’ son Marius Borg Høiby in late 2024. His trial on a long list of charges ranging from rape to other forms of violence, vandalism and drug-connected offenses is due to begin in February.
The disclosure of his mother’s declining health just before the Christmas holidays unleashed another barrage of royal news coverage heading into the weekend, and sympathy. State broadcaster NRK described it as a “dramatic development” and the crown princess has herself told NRK that the disease’s development “has gone faster than I had hoped.”
She said she and her family “have known all along” that a lung transplant may be necessary. “Just the thought of it is quite demanding,” she added, “and there’s a massive risk tied to it.” Her husband, Crown Prince Haakon, described the situation as “a grieving process” of sorts because “for those of us who love Mette, and want her to get well, it’s painful when things become more difficult.”
He also noted with a smile that it’s sometimes hard to understand that she’s seriously ill, “because she looks very well. And when we sit still, it seems like she’s just fine, but we know that she struggles to breathe.”
Crown Princess Mette-Marit hasn’t been placed on a transplant list yet, because that involves a long process of finding the right donors. “We’re not there yet,” Dr Holm told NRK, adding that patients get put on a waiting list “when we think life expectancy is poor … but we must be prepared.”
Around 30 Norwegians are currently on a lung transplant list and he said the crown princess won’t be given any royal priority when a transplant is viewed as necessary. An actual transplant operation is based on when a specific organ comes that’s of “a special size, and a special blood group” and is the best match for a certain patient. “We always take into consideration who is the sickest, who has the least time available and the poorest ability to wait,” Holm said.
He also warned that a lung transplant operation itself is serious and can be dangerous. “This isn’t something trivial, it’s a major operation and it’s frightening,” said Holm at a press conference at the national hospital on Friday. “At the same time, it can be lifesaving and a solution. And there’s hope in that.”
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
